MU 



■ ill 



■Hi 

HH nilu fill 



■ 

HI 

■oh 



■ 



^^v 



■ ■ ■ *Hfi 






^H ft 

HI 

BBi 
nfli 

<v>. ■' 



w 



^H 



I H 

"is'-' 



HI 



















o 






























> ^ 



"V- 









V 






^o v 



OO v 



A, 












v o^ 












♦ V I ■ * 



1 B /, <' 



1 ^O 



\ 

v* ■ 













»..-* n > 



,00, 



% 






»f 






•£ ^ 

r * 










% 



%. 






'^ nt 






'-P 



^ v* 



^ 






V 





m s 



1 6 









ARCTIC HEROES: 



FACTS AND INCIDENTS 

OF 

ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS 



FROM THE EARLIEST VOYAGES TO THE DISCOVERY OE THE 

FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, EMBRACING 

SKETCHES OF COMMERCIAL AND 

RELIGIOUS RESULTS. 

/ 

By REV. Z. A. MUDGE, 

Author of " Views from Plymouth Rock," " Witch Hill," " Foot- 
prints of Roger Williams," etc. 





FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. 



£$$■ 



NEW YORK: 

NELSON & PHILLIPS. 

CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL DEPARTMENT. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1ST5, by 

NELSON & PHILLIPS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



/> 



u 



PREFACE. 



\li 7E have endeavored in this volume to give 
^ * the principal facts in the wonderful his- 
tory of arctic exploration, down to the discovery 
of the fate of Sir John Franklin. We have not 
included, however, the Grinnell Expedition of 
1853-5, sent out under Dr. Kane, which, though 
seeking Franklin, did not embody in its results 
any facts concerning him, but is yet so remark- 
able in its achievements, so full of thrilling in- 
cidents, and so rich in information, that we 
have reserved our sketches of it for another 
volume, which will embrace alLthe late arctic 
voyages. 

In the arctic history here presented we have 
given the results of a wide range of study in 
this class of literature, including both that pub- 
lished in this country and in England. 

In the orthography of words belonging to the 
extreme northern regions we have used the 
simplest form, supported by good literary author- 



6 Preface. 

ity, following mainly that of Professor Dall, of 
the Smithsonian Institution, in his standard 
work on Alaska. Thus, we have Esquimo, used 
in a collective and individual sense, Kamchatka, 
Bering, etc. ; words more grateful to the eye, 
more easily written, and more readily spoken, 
than in their old forms. 

Though mainly secular in character, our book 
will yet be found, we are persuaded, decidedly 
healthy in moral tone, and, in some of its chap- 
ters, of marked religious interest. It has been 
written for our young people, and from this 
stand-point the author wishes it to be judged. 

Z. A. M. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter Page 

I. Northmen Navigators 9 

II. An Arctic Gold Fever 18 

III. Perils by Sea. 25 

IV. Ice-Bound 3 2 

V. Set Adrift 4° 

VI. Shipwreck and Escape 49 

VII. Arctic Mission-Work 59 

VIII. A Sudden Retreat 67 

IX. Striking Incidents. 75 

X. Important Success 84 

XI. Arctic Sea-Monsters 96 

XII. Down the Coppermine 105 

XIII. A Cheerful Arctic Winter 120 

XIV. Arctic Revival Work 133 

XV. Lost and Found 142 

XVI. Down the Great Fish River. 160 

XVII. Franklin Missing — The Search Commenced 173 

XVIII. Steaming Through Ice-Floes 188 

XIX. Significant Relics 201 

XX. Yankee Ice-Fighting 220 

XXI. Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction 235 



8 Contents. 

Chapter Page 

XXII. De Haven's Wonderful Drift 252 

XXIII. The North-West Passage Discovered 267 

XXIV. The Deserted Ships 279 

XXV. The Fate of Sir John Franklin -• 2gi 



JJ 1 1 n s t x a t x n & , 



Nipped in the Ice , 2 

Sawing a Channel go 

Ross' Rescue 157 

Floating Icebergs, , . . . , 226 



ARCTIC HEROES. 



CHAPTER I. 

NORTHMEN NAVIGATORS. 

OUR readers need not shiver at the thought 
of a voyage into the regions of cold and 
ice. They will, of course, not wear their summer 
garments, but go clothed in the warmest furs ; a 
material made by God for arctic wear, the equal 
of which for this climate no woolen factory would 
think of producing. They must go with a reso- 
lute spirit, too ; for no timid, fireside dreamers, lov- 
ing yellow-covered literature, the last dime novel, 
or sickly story books, need engage to accompany 
us. Should they wish to do so they must first 
throw all such trash into the fire, and agree to 
stand erect, facing the North Pole with unflinch- 
ing bravery. To those who will do this, whether 
manly boys or womanly girls, we promise no small 
stores of useful knowledge, no little interest 
from thrilling adventures, and sometimes positive 
amusement from laughable incidents. 

Do you ask where we are to go ? Take a map 
of the Arctic Ocean. See where Spitzbergen pro- 



io Arctic Heroes. 

jects toward the North Pole on one side, and, not 
far from it, where Greenland advances — we do 
not know how far— and where Nova Zembla and 
the Siberian Islands stand as sentinels at a very- 
respectable distance. No part of the continents 
of Asia or America claims to extend as far as we 
propose to go. It is into what is marked as an 
ocean, spotted by these small portions of land, 
that we intend to sail, not neglecting, however, to 
make ourselves acquainted with the regions of 
cold lying a little further south. 

What is called the Arctic Ocean is of vast ex- 
tent. Its shore-line circle is many thousands of 
miles. Its area four and a half millions of square 
miles. It has a beauty and grandeur of its own. 
We shall not stop here to describe them, but will 
only say that its sky, at times, flashes with a light 
marvelous in its variety of form and color; its 
waters float icy islands wrought into magic forms, 
and its cold, thin atmosphere is fanned by wings- 
of birds so many in number that we could no 
more count them than we could count the leaves 
in the forests of the sunny South. These we will 
show our readers in due time, if they do not 
leave our company. 

We shall certainly introduce them to some of 
the bravest and best of men, and. show them a 
peculiar people who live in a land of perpetual 
cold. 

Who were the first visitors of the arctic regions ? 
We cannot answer that question with certainty, 
but we know who were voyagers there many hun- 



Northmen Navigators, n 

dred years ago. A bold navigator from Norway, 
by the name of Other, sailed in A. D. 890 round 
the northern extremity of Iceland. He was the 
first to cross the arctic circle. This was a great 
voyage for a time when a ship was not as ' good as 
our shore-trading vessels ; but he made no discov- 
ery. Some years afterward an Icelander, named 
Gunbiorn was driven off the coast of his country 
in a storm. Away his little bark scud before the 
wind, until it came in sight of a high rocky coast 
of an extended land. The storm had subsided, 
the wind changed, and so he steered for Iceland 
without going ashore. He reported his discovery, 
but nobody cared to try the stormy voyage, and 
for nearly a hundred years nothing more was 
known of it. In 982 a fierce Iceland chief be- 
came too turbulent to be esteemed by his king a 
safe subject, and was banished for a term of years. 
Being as bold as he was wicked, he wisely resolved 
to spend the time upon the ocean in search of un- 
known lands. It may be that he had heard of 
Gunbiorn's story. At any rate, he sailed away to 
the west, and came to the same great land. He 
stayed there with his ship's crew three years, 
learning all he could of its extent and character. 
He then returned and persuaded a colony to go 
to this land of promise. 

This chief's name was Eric, known as Red Eric. 
He seems to have been a speculator in new lands 
— perhaps he formed a stock company; and, to 
make his speculation succeed, he called the new 
continent Greenland. Those whom he persuaded 



12 Arctic Heroes. 

to go were much greener, we think, than the land. 
But good came out of his project. 

Not long after the settlement was made, a son 
of one of the colonists, wishing to join his father, 
started in a ship for Greenland. He sailed a 
long, long time, driven- by contrary winds and 
drifted by strong currents. At last he came in 
sight of land. He looked carefully toward the 
shore as he coasted at a safe distance. He came 
finally to the conclusion that this was a green 
land, and, as he had learned before leaving Ice- 
land that Eric's Greenland was perpetually white 
with snow and ice, he decided that he had sailed 
out of his way. He steered to the north and saw 
other lands. These are now believed to have 
been Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts, 
Newfoundland, and Labrador. He reached Green- 
land all right in 987. He had not landed in any 
of these newly discovered countries. 

Ships sailed in those days, it is said, four miles 
an hour in good weather, so that a hundred miles 
a day was good speed. Eric's long voyage must 
have made his sailors, if not seasick, very sick of 
the sea. 

But Eric himself was neither. Thirteen years 
later, in the year 1000, he sailed through the same 
waters. He landed on Rhode Island, and, having 
examined the vicinity, made his winter-quarters 
at the mouth of what is now known as Taunton 
River. Here a woman of his company gave birth 
to a child, whom they named Snorre Thorfinnson. 
Little Snorre was, so far as we know, the first 



Northmen Navigators. 13 

American born of European parents. He called 
the country Vineland, because he thought it 
abounded in vines. 

The spot where he made his winter-quarters, 
the birthplace of Snorre, is not far from Ply- 
mouth Rock, and was within the range of the 
excursions of the Mayflower pilgrims. It may be 
-that Eric visited the shores of Plymouth harbor 
during the winter. In the spring he sailed away 
to Greenland. 

These voyages were made nearly five hundred 
years before Columbus discovered America ! So, 
after all, that great man only revived knowledge 
which the world had forgotten. But it does not 
rob him of his laurels. No printing-press had 
perpetuated the knowledge, and men were as 
ignorant of our great land in the fifteenth cen- 
tury as they were in the eighth. 

After Eric's voyages occasional ships might 
have been seen in American waters up to the year 
1347 ; but no colonies were formed. 

These facts are obtained from the " Icelandic 
Annals " — old records of Iceland — which careful 
investigators of history have of late years exam- 
ined very critically. A learned English writer 
says of them : "The authenticity of the Icelandic 
manuscripts seems to be fully established:"* and 
a recent American writer says of them : " These 
narratives are plain, straightforward, business-like 
accounts of actual voyages made by the Northmen, 

* " The Polar Regions." By Sir John Richardson, LL.D. 
P. 30. Edinburgh. i86t. 



14 Arctic Heroes. 

in the tenth and eleventh centuries, to Green- 
land, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the coast 
of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Within 
the whole range of literature, of discoveries and 
adventures, no volumes can be found which 
have more abundant internal evidence of authen- 
ticity."* 

The colony of Northmen in South Greenland 
became somewhat important in spite of its cold, 
its never-melting snow, and its distance from the 
civilized world. These old annals, which describe 
the voyages into the arctic regions, refer to the 
whales and seals, some of which were taken. An 
account of the way they caught the whales in 
those early days would be curious. 

The Roman Church sent to the colony priests 
as early as the last of the tenth century. We 
have an account of the demand by the Pope of 
his " pence " from these colonists. It was called 
" Peter 's pence," but we never could see what the 
good apostle had to do with it, nor do we believe 
these Northmen could ; but they paid the demand 
with walrus tusks. 

It is a singular fact of history that this colony 
became extinct nearly a hundred years before 
Columbus discovered the New World, and its 
memory was at the time well-nigh lost to man- 
kind. "The Black Death," as it was called, which 
clothed other portions of the world in mourning, 
is held accountable in part for its decay ; war, 

* " Ancient America." By John D. Baldwin. New York : 
Harper & Brothers. 1872. 



Northmen Navigators. 15 

Death's ever ready helper, had its share in the 
work, and, it is surmised, the savage Esquimo 
added the finishing stroke. The reader will hesi- 
tate to charge this crime upon these people when 
he has made their intimate acquaintance. 

Columbus' successful voyage opened a new era 
in the history of explorations. It began from that 
time to be carried on, not as by the Northmen, 
by reckless men on their own responsibility, but 
by Governments, and well-organized companies, 
through able, intelligent, and responsible navi- 
gators. John Cabot was such a navigator, and so 
was his son, Sebastian. They were Venetians, but 
lived in Bristol, England, and were sent out by the 
king and merchants of that country. In 1497 fa- 
ther and son landed on the coast of Labrador, and 
then voyaged along the coast of America to Vir- 
ginia. The next year the son made a northern 
voyage alone ; afterward he made an attempt tq 
find the north-west passage into the Asiatic seas — 
the first, it is said, of the many attempts which 
have occasioned most of the history of which we 
are writing. He expected to sail quickly to the 
land where " spices do grow," but instead he 
found, as he declares, " such greate heapes of ise 
which I durst passe no further." All was cold 
and dreary — no balmy breezes nor fragrant odors. 
Even the people disgusted him, being " like brute 
beasts in their behavior, dressed in beasts' skins 
and eating raw flesh." Yet he meanly kidnapped 
three of them to carry home as specimens ! How 
would he have liked it if the Esquimo had stolen 



16 Arctic Heroes. 

him 2 Thus, with his nose turned up at the coun- 
try and its people, yet keeping three of them un- 
lawfully and unmercifully under his nose, he sailed 
away South, and discovered Florida. The natives 
of this country would not have been as amiable as 
were their northern brethren had an attempt been 
made to select specimens from their number ! 

In 1500 Gaspar Cortereal, a gentleman brought 
up in the court of the King of Portugal — a man of 
learning and ability — sailed into the arctic seas in 
command of many ships, made important dis- 
coveries for hundreds of miles above Labrador, 
stole a few natives, and returned home. The 
next year he visited, as is supposed, Hudson 
Strait, but the sea avenged the crime he com- 
mitted against the people whom it nourished, and 
devoured him together with his vessel. One of 
the ships returned home in safety, but nothing 
was ever heard of Gaspar or his crew. 

Gaspar had a brother, Miguel, who begged the 
king to allow him to go in search of the lost one. 
Three ships were put under his command, and he 
sailed for the region about Hudson Strait. On 
arriving in the vicinity of the probable loss of 
Gaspar's vessel, the three ships took each certain 
inlets to examine, agreeing upon a harbor of meet- 
ing. Two of them met, after a diligent search. 
But the ship commanded by Miguel never re- 
turned. The sea had, doubtless, swallowed up 
both him and his men. 

There was still another brother of these Cortereals 
whose name was Vasco. He begged to be sent in 



Northmen Navigators. ij 

search of the missing vessels. But the king's grief 
was like Jacob's, bereaved of his children. He 
refused to let Vasco go, but sent armed vessels 
which searched in vain. Thus ended the arctic 
explorations in connection with these famous Cor- 
tereal brothers — famous more for misfortune than 
success. 

The next expedition was sent out by a com- 
pany of merchants. Its president was Sebastian 
Cabot, now an old man, retired on a comfortable 
pension given by the king " in consideration of 
the good and acceptable service done by him." 
Three ships were fitted out, and the command 
given to Sir Hugh Willoughby, " a valiant gentle- 
mane," under whom was Richard Chancelor, "a 
man of great estimation for the many good parts 
of wit in him." The task given them to perform 
was to find a north-east passage to China and India, 
which, of course, they expected to perform. They 
reached Nova Zembla, and were forbidden further 
progress by the ice. Sir Willoughby returned to 
the mouth of a river of Lapland, and established 
his winter-quarters. The ship commanded by 
Chancelor pushed forward, reached Archangel, 
and opened the way for trade with Russia. In 
the spring some Russian fishermen visited the 
quarters of Sir Willoughby, and found both him 
and his entire company frozen to death. 

But such disasters did not retard other explora- 
tions, and we shall next describe an arctic fever. 



iS Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER II. 

AN ARCTIC GOLD FEVER. 

FROBISHER was a learned and able man. 
He lived in the days of the famous maiden 
queen of England, Elizabeth. " There were 
giants " in her reign, and Frobisher was one of 
them. He was known to fame in his day as a 
hero in the defeat of the great Spanish Armada, 
but better known as an arctic explorer. 

In early life he became an enthusiastic admirer 
of Sebastian Cabot and his adventures. He was 
sure that a north-west passage to India could be 
found, and that he was the man to find it. He 
declared that this was the only great thing which 
remained to be done. No wonder, then, that he 
gave his time and strength to secure the means of 
accomplishing it, by converting others to his own 
faith. Fifteen years he went about preaching 
" Cathaia" as the promised land, and the north-west 
as the way to it. Men's ears were dull and their 
" shoulders " cold toward him. But Frobisher's 
zeal did not abate. Opposition is the flint which 
strikes fire from some men. The sparks of en- 
thusiasm which the smitten Frobisher emitted 
soon set the nation on fire. In 1576 Ambrose 
Dudley, Earl of Warwick, took up his cause. 
Under his patronage, three vessels were equipped 



An Arctic Gold Fever. 19 

for the enterprise. They were small affairs after 
all. The two larger ones were about thirty-five 
tons each— hardly equal to a coast-wise fishing 
vessel of the present day — and the third was an 
attending " pinnace " of ten tons, with a crew of 
four men. London flocked to the banks of the 
Thames to see the magnificent exploring fleet 
sail. Queen Elizabeth, from her window at Green- 
wich, waved the adventurers a cordial farewell. 
Not content with this, she sent a gentleman of the 
court on board the commander's vessel to wish 
them " happie successe," and to make known her 
"goode likings of their doings." 

The fleet reached, in July, what its commandor 
called Friesland— probably the southern coast of 
Greenland. The storm king, who reigned with 
vigor in this region, forbade their approach to the 
shore. The pinnace, with its crew, was lost. The 
" Gabriel," one of the other vessels, considering 
" discretion the better part of valor," scud inglo- 
riously away and reached England in safety. But 
Frobisher was true to himself and the enterprise. 
Calm when the tempest raged with fury, and self- 
possessed in danger, he inspired his crew with 
courage, and pressed onward. After many days 
he reached a dreary shore.. The ice soon shut in 
on the outside, and he pushed forward into a 
strait to which he gave his own name. He soon 
espied some strange beings in the water, which he 
at first thought were porpoises. But they proved 
to be the Esquimo in their kayaks, or boats. He 
describes them as " savage people, like to Tartars, 



20 Arctic Heroes. 

having long black hair, broad faces, and flatte 
noses ; the women being marked on the face with 
blewe streekes downe the cheekes and round the 
eyes, and wearing bootes made of seal-skins, in 
shape somewhat resembling the shallops of Spain. " 

But a sad incident soon interrupted all inter- 
course between the natives and the strangers. A 
boat's crew of five men went ashore. Their long 
absence caused alarm. Trumpets were blown 
and a cannon was fired to call them back, but in 
vain. Frobisher hastily and unwisely assumed 
that they had been violently treated by the Es- 
quimo. His method of revenge was equally un- 
wise and unworthy of his character. He enticed 
one of them alongside " by the tinkling of a bell." 
He then "pluckt him up, boat and all." The 
poor fellow bit his tongue in his rage and despair 
— " bit it in half by the way." 

Frobisher immediately sailed for England, where 
he was cordially received, though we cannot see 
what he had accomplished, except to meanly steal 
a suspected, but unsuspecting, confiding native. 
A little incident inflamed this cordiality into a 
wild enthusiasm. Each of the adventurers had 
brought home some mementos of the explora- 
tion, such as flowers, grass, and stones. Frobisher, 
among other things, presented his friends with 
specimens of the minerals of the discovered land. 
One piece, as the story goes, was thrown into the 
fire. It burned for some time and was then taken 
out, and " being quenched in a little vinegar it 
glistened with a bright marquesset of golde." The 



An Arctic Gold Fever. 21 

fever which followed was much like the California 
"gold fever" of our day, or the diamond fever of 
the Cape of Good Hope. Frobisher was the lion of 
the hour, though he seems no way responsible for 
the public faith in the character of his exhibited 
minerals. Some " gold-fmers " gave opinions to 
suit the people's wishes, though it is said that a 
responsible assayer declared that the minerals in 
question did not contain a particle of the precious 
ore. But the steam was up, the frenzied train 
which was to return laden with gold was set in 
motion, and common sense was run off the track. 
Both the common people and the queen and her 
court shared alike in the excitement. The queen 
commanded that another expedition should be 
immediately put in readiness. She gave her u lov- 
ing friend, Martin Frobisher " very full directions 
for his guidance. In some of these she had an 
eye to other interests than those of discovery, or 
even those of golden treasures. She assumed 
that he would again attempt to land on the stormy 
coast of " Friesland," So she directed him to 
take certain condemned persons and leave them 
there. This little service would relieve her of 
some troublesome subjects, and he might, as a 
matter of good-will, " speak with them if possible 
on his return voyage," giving them at the first 
such food and weapons as he could well spare, 
duly instructing them to conduct themselves well 
and get the good-will of the natives. She further 
directed him to bring home a few of the natives 
as specimens. As they were not to be returned, 



22 Arctic Heroes. 

and their consent to the transportation was not to 
be taken into the account, he was cautioned to be 
careful where and how they were taken away. 
There is one excuse for such transactions, which, 
though poor, is the best we know; it was in 
accordance with the spirit of the times. 

But a better suggestion from the queen was this : 
He should, if possible, leave some persons to win- 
ter on the golden shores of the new country. 
They were to be instructed to make notes of the 
state of the country, nature of the air, and observe 
what time of the year the coast was free from ice. 
He was to leave them well supplied with food 
and arms, with a " pinnace," and all other things 
necessary for their comfort and safety. It does 
not appear that these last suggestions were acted 
upon by the explorer. The voyage, however, was 
made. A little island in what has been known as 
Frobisher Strait, called Countess of Warwick Isle, 
was selected, and two hundred tons of the mineral 
were brought back to the delighted queen, and to 
her equally delighted people. She called the new 
land " Meta Incognita," and declared that this 
voyage greatly increased her hopes that the north- 
west passage to India would be found. 

A new expedition was immediately put in sail- 
ing order. One hundred persons, representing 
various trades and callings, were appointed as set- 
tlers. Fifteen vessels were to convey them to 
the goodly land, Frobisher being commander. 
Twelve of the ships were to return with the ore, 
and three were to remain with the colonists. 



An Arctic Gold Fever. 23 

The expedition sailed, attended with the great 
expectations of the nation, and a heroism of its 
men worthy a better aim. Dangers and distresses 
beset them during the voyage. One vessel, carry- 
ing the materials for a large wooden house for the 
use of the colonists on their arrival, was crushed 
by icebergs and sunk. Another, under cover of 
the night, had turned her prow homeward, and 
sailed for England. The rest were tossed amid 
" incredible pain and peril." At last a fresh breeze 
cleared away the ice, and they sailed through a 
clear sea and soon sighted land, which they sup- 
posed to be near Frobisher Strait. But soon this 
dawn of hope was followed by the darkness of 
despair. A fog enveloped them, and the vessels 
were separated, each lost to the proper course. 
They were driven about at random, while their 
ears were saluted by the dismal sound of ice 
crushing against the ship, and of colliding ice- 
bergs. 

When at last the sky became clear, and the 
scattered ships, reunited, the pilot confessed that 
he knew not where they were. But Frobisher 
declared that he knew the coast, and that they 
were all right. But they failed, after many at- 
tempts, to effect a landing. The natives refused 
to be conciliated, which is not strange, if the policy 
of former expeditions had been practiced among 
them. We shall see that later explorers found 
them kindly disposed. 

Thus hindered in his main design, Frobisher fell 
back upon the passion of his life, and proposed to 



24 Arctic Heroes. 

the other commanders to abandon the colonization 
scheme and sail on a voyage of discovery. But 
they rejected the proposal. 

Much time had been wasted by these baffled 
efforts and divided counsels, and their provisions 
began to fail, while at the same time the vessels 
were crippled by their icy foe ; orders were there- 
fore given to spread sail for home. No settlers 
had been landed, no gold obtained, not even the 
deceitful ore of former voyages, and no discoveries 
had been made. 

Thus ended the arctic gold fever. Frobisher 
fell into neglect, but did not lose his credit, nor 
the people all of their faith in northern gold 
mines ; for they were slow to believe that he had 
brought home only " fool's gold " — a micaceous 
sand — and that "it is not all gold that glitters." 



Perils by Sea. 25 



CHAPTER III. 

PERILS BY SEA. 

FAILURE to secure any substantial success 
did not restrain the zeal of the queen, nor 
the spirit of enterprise in other explorers. Imme- 
diately on the completion of Frobisher's last voy- 
age, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained from Eliza- 
beth full power to undertake a voyage of discov- 
ery in the western waters, and to colonize such 
land as was not already claimed by some Christian 
sovereign. 

Sir Humphrey was a man of mental force and 
culture. He had studied the north-west passage 
theory, and given to the world his conclusions in 
well-written pages. He belonged to a distin- 
guished family, being half-brother to Sir Walter 
Raleigh. His brother Adrian was already at the 
head of an influential company for discovery in 
the north-west. 

The queen's terms with Sir Humphrey were 
very generous. He was to have for his own, for- 
ever, all the heathen countries which he might 
discover, to exercise absolute authority over them, 
only that they should do homage to his sovereign. 
Exactly where the distinguishing line was to run 
between the discover's absolute rule and due 
homage to England's queen, is not defined in his 



26 Arctic Heroes. 

patent. It was expected probably that both would 
exist mainly on paper. The queen, however, 
added a more substantial qualification. Sir Hum- 
phrey was to pay her one fifth of all revenues the 
countries in question might yield. The right of 
the natives to the land of their fathers was, of 
course, not considered. It was to be a blessing 
great enough for them to be owned and governed 
by the enlightened strangers. 

Sir Humphrey left England June, 1583, with 
five vessels. They had not been long at sea be- 
fore a fatal sickness occurred among the crew of 
one of them, and it returned to England. With 
his remaining fleet the commander landed on 
Newfoundland and took possession in the name of 
his queen. A very cool beginning of ownership 
in the new world, as he was not even the discov- 
erer of this land. 

A Saxon miner of the expedition soon reported 
that he had found a silver mine. But lands and 
precious ore could not stay the progress of dis- 
ease. Another vessel was sent home with the 
sick. The exploring squadron consisted now of the 
" Delight," the largest and best vessel, the " Gold- 
en Hind," and the " Squirrel," a small affair of 
ten tons, in which the commander himself sailed. 
With these he put to sea the 20th of August. On 
the ninth day out a tempest came down upon 
them, and the " Delight" and " Golden Hind" were 
driven among rocks and shoals. The " Delight " 
was on the lead, ajid struck a quicksand, in which 
her prow was held firmly. Her stern was soon 



Perils by Sea. 27 

beaten to fragments by the waves. When the 
ship struck her boat was afloat at the stern, hav- 
ing been hoisted out the day before to pick up 
some birds which had been shot from the deck of 
the vessel. Into this a part of the crew entered. 
All could not enter; and the question, severely 
testing the unselfish heroism of every one, was 
pressed upon them : Who shall remain by the ship ? 
Captain Browne, who had been transferred from 
the " Swallow " into the " Delight, " at once set the 
noble example of preferring the safety of others to 
himself. Others followed this example, and six- 
teen only, including Mr. Clarke, the master, escaped 
in the boat. The captain and one hundred men 
calmly awaited their fate, and perished on the 
breaking up of the vessel. 

Those who were in the boat were scarcely to be 
congratulated. Overladen, and without provis- 
ions, they drifted before the furious tempest. 
The nights were starless, and the darkness awful. 
At the end of two days it seemed that the boat 
could not longer float in the heavy sea, and one of 
the sailors, by the name of Headly, proposed that 
they draw lots, and that the four getting the four 
shortest lots be thrown overboard, to increase the 
chance of the safety of the rest. To this proposal 
the master gave an emphatic " No ! " " We will 
all live," he exclaimed, " or die together ! " 

Four days passed away, and no relief came. 
On the fifth, Headly and one other man died. 
All except Clarke were in despair, and cried for 
death to end their misery. He calmly exhorted 



28 Arctic Heroes. 

them still to trust the Divine arm and hope for 
deliverance. On the sixth day, when hope seemed 
to be gone, he boldly declared that the morrow 
would bring deliverance, adding, u If it does not, 
throw me overboard." About noon of the seventh 
day the shore of Newfoundland was seen. In the 
middle of the afternoon they landed, with diffi- 
culty creeping from the boats. Their first act, 
most fittingly, was to fall on their knees and thank 
God for their deliverance. The stronger then 
brought water from a brook, and all quenched 
their thirst. They found near them a good supply 
of wild berries, and, building a hut of boughs, 
they remained on shore a few days and were 
sufficiently recruited to row quietly along the 
shore, landing for water and their supply of fruit. 
Soon a Spanish whaler picked them up and landed 
them at a port in the Bay of Biscay. They trav- 
eled on foot through France, and arrived in En- 
gland the latter part of 1583, to tell the sad result 
of their hopefully begun expedition. 

We left the " Golden Hind" in the midst of the 
storm which proved so disastrous to the Delight. 
She beat off from the rocks among which they 
were entangled and reached the open sea. All of 
both vessels now united in requesting the com- 
mander to return to England. In no wise daunted 
by his misfortunes, he agreed to do this, after se- 
curing a pledge from his men to sail with him on 
another north-west expedition the next spring. 

Having spread their sails for the homeward pas- 
sage, Sir Humphrey several times left the " Squirrel" 



Perils by Sea. 29 

to spend an hour on board the " Golden Hind." As 
his little craft was overloaded, both below and on 
deck, and was not considered safe-, the captain of 
the " Hind " besought him to remain in his ship. 
" No," says the noble commander, " if there are 
perils ahead I will share them with those in whose 
company I have passed through so many." Once 
he came on board the " Hind " to have an injured 
foot dressed by its surgeon. His condition offered 
a good occasion for him to remain. But neither 
his own comfort, nor a feast prepared by the 
Hind's officers and crew, could entice him from 
his post of danger. Soon after his return a storm 
arose. In the afternoon of the day it commenced 
Sir Humphrey was seen sitting in the stern of his 
little imperiled craft with a book in his hand. 
He shouted, u Courage, my lads, we are as near 
heaven at sea as on land." They were his last 
known words. That night the " Squirrel's " light 
was seen for a few hours glimmering in the dark- 
ness, and rising and falling with the waves. Soon 
that disappeared, and the career of the brave little 
ship, with its noble commander and crew, was 
closed. The " Golden Hind " returned alone, to 
anticipate in part the recital of the sad tale of the 
rescued boat's crew. 

The next English explorer, John Davis, was 
more chary of perils by sea. He was willing, 
however, in order to find the much-desired golden 
gate, or rather the north-west gate to the gold 
and diamonds of the east, to subject himself to a 
reasonable amount of peril, 






30 Arctic Heroes. 

Some " divers worshipful merchants of London, " 
not deterred by treasures already lost in similar 
adventures, fitted out and put Davis in command 
of two vessels — the "Sunshine " and "Moonshine." 

They sailed from the Thames in June, 1585, 
and in six weeks they were on the coast of Green- 
land. Their early and first peril was from a 
dense, long-continued fog bank. During its 
gloomy darkness they were affrighted by terrific 
grindings and loud roarings, which greatly puz- 
zled them. They could not be the crash of thun- 
der, nor the sound of distant waterfalls breaking 
through icy restraints. But they were soon able 
to explain these intimidating sounds, for the 
grinding together of huge masses of ice soon 
became a familiar, if not a r^easant, sight and 
sound. 

When the fog cleared away, and Davis and his 
men were able to view the shore, they were not 
greatly comforted. He says : " The country was 
as dreary as it is possible to conceive. The loath- 
some view of the shore, and the irksome noise of 
the ice, were such that they bred strange conceits 
among us, so that we supposed the place to be 
waste, and void of any sensible or vegetable crea- 
tures. So we named the same— Desolation." 

But they found even these regions not all deso- 
lation. Sailing west, he discovered a clear sea, 
with " green and pleasant isles bordering on the 
shore." Even the natives smiled upon them, and 
they entered into trade for furs. 

A favoring wind springing up, Davis spread his 



Perils by Sea. 31 

sails and steered across an expanse of water until 
they rounded a cape in great spirits, calling the 
point of land " The Cape of God's Mercy." There 
was no ice, and the commander thought that the 
way " to Cathay " was found at last. " Why," he 
exclaims, " the water is of the very color, nature, 
and quality of the ocean ! " Sailing on over two 
hundred miles in the happy delusion, he was con- 
firmed in it by their arrival at a cluster of inviting 
islands. But the old fog banks soon turned the 
current of their thoughts. A storm arose and the 
sea became boisterous. Not liking fogs and 
storms, Davis quickly sailed to England, hoping 
to come into those regions again another day. 

Twice again he visited the same coast, making 
surveys of the western coast of Greenland, and 
making the world acquainted with the waters now 
known as Davis Strait, and thus opening a wide 
door for those who might follow. He had not, 
however, filled his ships with gold, nor sailed to 
Cathay through the icy north, and so he gave way 
to other and newly-risen stars. 



32 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ICE-BOUND. 

WHILE England was sending her heroic 
men to arctic regions, other nations were 
on the alert. Among them none were more en- 
terprising than the Hollanders. We give an 
example of the heroism of the great Dutch com- 
manders. 

In 1596 William Barentz sailed into the waters 
between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. It was 
his third voyage into the frozen regions, yet the 
perils he was now called to face were enough to 
make even his well-tried courage fail. The ice 
drifts came crowding around them until it had 
made escape impossible. He says : " It made all 
the hair of our heads to rise upright with fear, and 
forced us, in great cold, poverty, misery, and grief, 
to stay all that winter. ,, But they strove manfully 
against such a dreaded necessity. 

On the nth of September all hope of relief was 
given up, and a council was called in which the 
question was discussed how they might best de- 
fend themselves against wild beasts and the cold. 
They finally determined to build a hut upon the 
land, and " so to commit themselves into the tuition 
of God." 

This being determined, the next question was, 



Ice-Bound. 33 

Of what 'shall our hut be made ? No trees grew 
on the shore upon which they had been cast. 
Looking about for material, they stumbled upon a 
good quantity of drift-wood. They joyfully re- 
garded this needed article as coming through the 
direct interposition of God. Well did Barentz 
write : " We were much comforted, being in good 
hope that God would show us some further favor. 
The wood served us not only to build our 
house, but also to burn during the whole winter. 
Without it, without all doubt, we had died there 
miserably with extreme cold." 

They at once set to work to build their house. 
But they had not learned arctic house building. 
Some put the nails they purposed to use between 
their lips, and when they removed them the skin 
was taken too, and the pain was as if they had 
been burned. The bears, also, troubled them. The 
reader will wonder at this, as he will at this party's 
hut constructing and other management, when he 
has followed later explorers into the arctic regions. 
White men had not yet learned of the simple 
Esquimo how to live amid perpetual ice and in- 
tense cold, and to regard the visit of the bear as 
the good gift of the Great Spirit. A bear troubling 
a whole ship's crew, when his fur and meat were * 
just the needed articles, and then walking auda- 
ciously away, would have made an Esquimo 
woman shrug her shoulders, and, with her people's 
peculiar laugh, to say, " White men all same as 
boys." 

When the hut was finished the needed stores 



34 Arctic Heroes. 

were removed to it from the ship. All -this time 
the open water was within " arrow-shot " of the 
vessel ! Dr. Kane would have found a way to 
"cut her out," and thus to have escaped. 

When the cracks in their house were chinked 
with the weed they found about the shore, and all 
their goods removed from the vessel, they " set up 
the dial and made the clock strike." 

It was now November, the sun had ceased to 
appear above the horizon, and the long winter set 
in. Regulations for the company were adopted, 
and each assigned his daily round of duty. The 
dignity of the officers was duly regarded, the mas- 
ter and pilot being exempted from cutting wood 
and " such rude labors." Habits which concerned 
health were wisely regarded. The surgeon con- 
trived to make a bath tub of a wine-pipe, in 
which all bathed in turn, and at stated times, and 
were much benefited. Traps were sometimes set 
for the foxes that came skulking round ; foxes, 
however, it would seem, were too cunning to be 
caught. 

The snow shut them up for days together, and 
the cold stopped their clock, so that the slow- 
moving hours were counted only by the hour-glass. 
Their only light was the economically supplied 
fire. Ice formed in their sleeping berths, and the 
smoke and impure air were continual annoyances. 
Linen froze the instant it was taken from hot 
water. The painful stillness without was occa- 
sionally broken by the thunder of icebergs as they 
were rent asunder, or brought into sudden con- 



Ice-Bound. 35 

tact. At other times the bark of the fox or the 
growl of the bear would fall on their ears. When 
not employed in cooking many spent their time in 
bed. 

No wonder, in view of all these discomforts, at 
the dismal tone of the following extract from the 
commander's diary ! " It was foul weather again, 
with an easterly wind and extreme cold, almost 
not to be endured ; whereupon we looked pitifully 
one upon the other, being in great fear that if the 
extremity of the cold grew to be more and more, 
we should all die there with cold ; for what fire 
we made it would not warm us. Yea, and our 
sack, which is so hot, was frozen very hard, so that 
when we were every man to have his part we were 
forced to melt it in the fire. We had of this, 
every second day, about half a pint to a man. At 
other times we had water, which agreed not well 
with the cold, and we needed not to cool it with 
snow or ice ; but we were forced to melt it out of 
the snow/' 

On the 7th of December they went on board 
the ship, and brought to the hut "some coals." 
Of these they made a cheerful fire, in which they 
for a while rejoiced. But the escaping gas gave 
them all a sudden dizziness, and one fainted. 
Evidently they came near being suffocated. The 
door was opened, and they*felt better ; and then 
" a glass of wine was served out to each man, 
to recover him completely." 

On the 19th of November they tried to get 
some cheer from the fact that the time of the 






36 Arctic Heroes. 

sun's absence was half expired. The seamen's 
shoes had now frozen so that they could not wear 
them, and they made them slippers of skins, and 
wore several pair of socks at once. 

Their stock of wood was expended by the mid- 
dle of January, but it was replenished by weary 
digging in the snow. Going to the ship one day, 
a fox was discovered in the cabin ; he was caught, 
carried to the hut, his flesh eaten, and his skin 
made into warm slippers. 

On " Twelfth Night " — a national holiday — they 
tried to be merry. From their scanty allowance 
of wine they had saved an extra portion for this 
occasion. When mentioning this wine they add : 
"We fancied ourselves at home in Holland." If 
they were indebted to the wine for this " fancy," 
wine, true to its character, was to them a cruel 
"mocker." We think this was even so, for they 
" soaked biscuit in wine, drank to the three kings 
of Cologne, and comforted themselves as if they 
had been at a great feast." They drew lots to see 
who should be king of Nova Zembla, and the lot 
fell to the gunner. It is said, in fact, that* they 
were as happy as if they had been in their own 
houses among the dykes of Holland. But where 
wine presides at the board, headache and sleepless 
nights follow, and " sweet home " " dissolves like 
the baseless fabric of a vision." 

The next few days were very stormy, and, no 
doubt, very "blue." They remained in their hut 
and heard the foxes fearlessly running over the 
roof. The bears passed in and out of their dc- 



Ice- Bound. 37 

serted ship. The cold grew more intense. With 
their feet to the fire, their socks burned before the 
flesh felt the warmth, and their backs were cov- 
ered with frost. 

On the 24th of January three of the men, going 
to the sea-side toward the south, caught a glimpse, 
as they thought, of the sun above the horizon. 
But their commander doubted the good news, as 
the sun was not due by his reckoning. Many 
days following were densely cloudy, and they ob- 
tained no additional evidence of his welcome 
return. 

Though the cheerful sun came not to the ice- 
bound and suffering wretches, death entered their 
abode. On the 26th they carried one of their 
number out to his deep-snow grave. He had long 
been sick, and now, around his cold remains, they 
read "certain chapters from God's Word," and 
mournfully chanted their psalms. 

A polar bear, which had, no doubt, during the 
winter, observed the ways of these strangers, and 
not being attacked, very naturally resolved to at- 
tack them. He came boldly up to their dwelling. 
They attempted to shoot him, but their "match- 
locks " missed fire. The bear, despising the arms- 
length fighting of the white faces, made a rush at 
the door of the hut. The men rushed in, and 
held it fast on the inside, having in their flight, 
dropped the bar by which they usually secured it. 
After trying to force it the bear walked away, but 
soon returned, mounted the roof, and roared furi- 
ously for admission. The terror of the inmates 






38 Arctic Heroes. 

was now very great. If he should break through, 
there would be just one too many in their close 
quarters. But the bear contented himself, by 
necessity, as he could not break through, with 
" sound and fury," and went away. 

On the 4th of May the open sea came within 
five hundred paces of the ship. They decided, 
however, not to wait the chances of being able to 
float their ship, but resolved to venture their safety 
in their boats, They had a voyage before them 
of many hundred miles over a cold and stormy 
sea. They repaired their two boats, and, on the 
13th of June, the forlorn party, twelve in number, 
left that u desert, irksome, fearful, and cold coun- 
try." They were destitute of every comfort, and 
of almost all the common necessities of existence. 
Soon three of them died, and were committed to 
the deep ! 

After many weary days they came in sight of a 
long-desired cape. When the good news that the 
cape was in sight was shouted from the deck, 
Barentz was below examining a chart which De 
Veer, one of his companions, had made of the 
coasts they had seen on their voyage. He had 
become very weary, and desired to be carried on 
deck that he might see the land. 

Not long after the sad tidings was communicated 
from the other boat that Claes Andriz was dying. 
" I shall soon follow i\ndriz ! " said Barentz. " De 
Veer," he added, " give me something to drink." 

He took the cup from De Veer, drank, fell back 
into his arms, and died. 



Ice-Bound. 39 

The company in the other boat were, at the 
same time, closing the eyes in death of Andriz. 

The two boats were now in an almost desperate 
condition. Their commander had been their prin- 
cipal navigator, from his superior knowledge and 
experience. His courage and hopeful temper had 
been the inspiration of their flagging spirits. They, 
however, manfully contended against the fearful 
difficulties ; and in September, having been nearly 
three months on board their frail boats, they 
reached the coast of Lapland. They say : " We 
now saw some trees on the river side, which com- 
forted us and made us glad, as if we then had 
come into a new world ; for in all the time we had 
been out we had not seen any trees." 

Having arrived at Coola, which we understand 
to be a port of Lapland, they finished a voyage of 
eleven hundred and forty-three miles, and put 
their boats in the " Merchant's House, as a sign 
and token of their deliverance. " 

In a few weeks they sailed for Amsterdam in a 
Dutch ship. They appeared before their friends 
in the dress they had worn during their perils, 
and were received as those who, being lost, were 
found. They were honored and feasted. The 
common people heard their story with wonder, 
and they were invited to repeat it before the min- 
isters of foreign States at the Hague. 






4° Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER V. 

SET ADRIFT. 

THE next prominent candidate for the perils 
and honors of arctic exploration was Henry 
Hudson. The Muscovy wealth-seeking company 
first sent him out in 1607. His orders were to 
penetrate directly to the North Pole. Hudson 
seems to have answered, in spirit : I will try, gentle- 
men. He reached, by the way of Spitzbergen, the 
latitude of 8i*°, an approach to the point to which 
he was sent not much exceeded at any time since, 
until the last American expedition under Captain 
Hall. He then coasted awhile about Spitzbergen, 
and came home declaring that there was an insur- 
mountable ice barrier across the way to the pole in 
that direction. This declaration has never been 
proved false. 

He was next sent to find a north-east passage 
to India, a result much desired by his employers, 
as, in their estimation, it would be equivalent to 
the discovery of great riches. In the spirit of 
I'll try, he sailed in 1608. He made the coast of 
Nova Zembla after hard fighting with the Ice 
King, into whose domains he had dared to pene- 
trate. Being defeated by this venerable sovereign 
of the whole northern region, he returned home 
and testified that a north-east passage to India in 



Set Adrift. 41 

ships had no existence, except in the fancies and 
wishes of certain merchants who would make haste 
to be rich. This testimony of the brave sailor 
stands unimpeached to this day. Hudson's sailors 
declared that while at one time out in a boat, dur- 
ing this voyage, they saw a mermaid. They did 
not, however, catch her and bring her to England. 
So a grave doubt rests upon their testimony. 

The Dutch did not believe ihe faithful state- 
ment of Hudson, but would have him try the 
north-east passage again. He did so, in 1609, and 
was warned off, as before, by the grim Ice King ; he 
obeyed, and turned his ships toward the American 
coast, taking care to steer away from the regions 
controlled by his frosty majesty. He arrived at 
what is now New York harbor, and discovered 
the beautiful river to which his name has been 
attached to this day. This was exploring to good 
purpose, whether it satisfied the merchants of Hol- 
land or not. 

The next year a rich company of London mer- 
chants started him off again. Strange to say, the 
explorers again confronted their old enemy on the 
south-east coast of Iceland, where they dropped 
anchor. They were beset with fog, and soon found 
themselves beset also by "bergs" and "packs," 
the skirmishers of the Ice King. They wisely 
took the hint and left. Going round to the west 
coast they caught a fine lot of fish. Here they 
saw Mount Hecla in a blaze, the brightness of its 
fires lighting up the land and sea, and sparkling 
from the eternal snows. 



42 Arctic Heroes. 

They made a harbor, where they killed a good 
supply of sea-fowl. Attempting to sail, they were 
driven into another harbor, where they found warm 
springs, in which they bathed ; some of them were 
hot enough to boil their fowl in. 

They now sailed away for Greenland, and coasted 
along its north-west side, seeing many whales. 
Scudding before the wind, they went west of 
north, and encountered great quantities of floating 
ice, on which were numerous seals. Hudson was 
carried along with the current which bore the ice ? 
and after fruitless attempts to get free from it gave 
up the attempt, and yielded to feelings of dis- 
couragement. He called his men together, showed 
them his chart, and called their attention to the 
fact that they had sailed a hundred leagues further 
than any of their countrymen had done. He then 
submitted the question to them whether to go 
further or to return. 

The council thus called seems to have been 
divided and insubordinate. The commander, as 
might have been supposed, was obliged to assume 
the responsibility, which he did by pushing for- 
ward. He soon after discovered some islands 
under which he found shelter. Going ashore 
they found game and drift-wood, and, being re- 
freshed and encouraged, called them the " Isles 
of God's Mercy." 

Sailing again, and borne hither and thither by 
the varying ice-laden current, he was at last car- 
ried much to the west of what he expected by the 
rush of the tide into the great bay which bears 



Set Adrift. 43 

his name. Gaining the shelter of another island, 
a boat was sent ashore. They found upon it 
herds of deer — though their clumsy guns failed 
to bring down any — abundance of wild fowl, and 
some herbage and scurvy-grass. The boat ex- 
plorers were called on board by an alarm-gun, as 
a storm was coming on. The crew, having been 
consulted before, now tendered their advice. They 
wanted to stay here and recruit. But Hudson was 
elated by the idea of the vast sea into which he 
had just entered, and thinking, perhaps, that the 
way to " Cathay " was at last open to him, weighed 
anchor and bore away. The muttering storm of 
discontent among the crew, so long gathering, 
began to break out in fitful gusts. Hudson at 
once assumed the stern authority of the ship- 
master, and degraded two of his officers, the mate 
and boatswain, making Bylot mate and Wilson 
boatswain. In doing this he is accused of acting 
under the influence of a spirit of revenge for 
provocations a long time before given by the de- 
graded men. This seems to us unlikely, his own 
safety forbidding the master to take such a time 
to pay off old grudges. 

After some exciting adventures, in which the 
crew and their commander came into collision, 
they began to look about for winter-quarters. It 
was November, the nights were long and cold, and 
the snow every-where deep. Drawing their ship 
up near the shore they were soon frozen in. Their 
provisions were low, and all were put on a short 
allowance. The crew, ever forward with their ad- 



44 Arctic Heroes. 

vice, counseled the building of a house on shore. 
This seems to have been good advice, but Hudson 
flatly refused to have it done. A most unfortu- 
nate state of irritability had been fostered between 
the two parties. Some time later, when the com- 
mander saw the necessity of a house on shore, he 
commanded the carpenter to build one. " I nei- 
ther can nor will," was that officer's reply. Hud- 
son attempted to strike him, and hurled at him 
sharp words. " I know my duty ; I am no house 
carpenter," rejoined the carpenter. 

This, as it may be seen, is possibly a one-sided 
account. It does not accord with the later, noble 
conduct of the carpenter to his commander. 

After further delay the house was built, but in 
such a manner that it proved of no use. 

The winter was a severe one, and their pro- 
visions were nearly exhausted. Sickness, of 
course, prevailed, and much suffering was ex- 
perienced. They, however, shot a great many 
wild fowl, and procured from beneath the snow 
some moss and buds, all of which were eaten 
and acted favorably in staying the progress of the 
scurvy. 

In the spring the Esquimo visited them, and 
a trade was entered into for furs in exchange for 
trinkets. 

Hudson now prepared to return home. With 
a sorrowful heart, and, it is said, with tearful eyes, 
he distributed to the company a portion of the 
small remnant of their provisions, not more than 
enough to last ten days. He remarked in giving 



Set Adrift. 45 

it out : u I also give you a bill of return, so that if 
you ever get home you may show it." 

A short time after they caught " fourscore small 
fish," which, though but little among so many, 
ought to have impressed them that they might 
look for a providential supply. 

They set sail, we may be assured, with heavy 
hearts. But a feeling worse than that of heavi- 
ness was indulged by many. They dropped an- 
chor before clearing the bay — now Hudson Bay 
— when the rebellious spirit on board assumed the 
form of open violence. The mutineers took an 
occasion, when officers and men were widely scat- 
tered about the ship, to seize the commander as 
he was leaving the cabin and to tie his hands 
behind him. 

" What do you mean to do ? " he demanded. 

" You will know when we get you into the 
boat," was the reply. 

The rebels, who were strong in numbers, were 
armed, and presented deadly weapons to the 
friends of Hudson. Some of the sick boldly de- 
nounced the mutineers, and told them that they 
would find England, if they arrived there, a worse 
place than their present one. 

Hudson and eight sick men were violently 
dragged into a small shallop, with only two days' 
provisions. The carpenter, though regarded as a 
friend of Hudson, was not put into the boat with 
him. When he saw the fate that had been devised 
for his commander, he denounced, in no smooth 
terms, the rebels, and boldly declared that he 



46 Arctic Heroes. 

preferred his company in the boat to theirs in the 
ship. His noble conduct seems to have subdued 
in a measure even his wicked shipmates, and they 
allowed him to take his chest, musket, powder 
and shot, a few cooking utensils, and some other 
necessaries, and a small addition to the stock of 
provisions. 

The shallop was then set adrift, while the ship 
hoisted sails and bore away. Doubtless the muti- 
neers watched the victims of their great crime, 
until they were lost in the rapidly increasing 
distance. 

Night threw her mantle over the separated par- 
ties. The morning dawned with a clouded sky 
and stormy winds. All day the gale drove fields 
of ice over the open waters, and rendered naviga- 
tion impossible, while the great icebergs went 
plunging through the deep, or fiercely rushed to- 
gether like angry gladiators. Hudson and his 
companions were, without doubt, lost on that 
fearful day ; yet no messenger, even in the form 
of a faintly intimating relic, ever appeared to tell 
the story of the time and circumstances of their 
last moments. Posterity drops a tear over their 
watery graves, and history perpetuates the memory 
of Hudson in the name of the bay which he dis- 
covered. 

The guilty ship's company steered homeward, 
keeping the headlands in view. On one of these 
they landed to secure a needed supply of sea- 
fowls. Meeting on shore peaceably disposed Es- 
quimo, they began to trade with them, exchanging 



Set Adrift 47 

trinkets for furs and fresh provisions. At one 
time a boat having articles for such purposes on 
board, went ashore. Green, who seems to have 
been the chief villain of the gang, ventured, with 
others, away from the boat, and mixed freely with 
the natives, showing goods. Pricket only was left 
in the boat. Seeing the strangers thus off their 
guard, and tempted, no doubt, by the coveted 
trinkets, a savage attacked Pricket with a deadly 
weapon. A desperate struggle ensued, Pricket 
finally killing the assailant. A general conflict at 
once commenced, in which four of Green's party, 
fighting their way to the boat, reached it only after 
receiving serious wounds. The remaining one 
jumped into the sea from a rocky point and swam 
to the boat after it pushed off, seizing its stern, 
and begging to be taken in ; his companions, it 
seems, being regardless of his fate. The savages 
persisted in their attack, and were beaten off with 
a pike and hatchet. Green was killed on the spot. 
The rest reached the ship, but three died of their 
wounds. The cry of the blood of their murdered 
commander was speedily avenged. 

The ship was now insufficiently manned, and 
there were no relieving parties to go ashore for 
birds. With great labor they killed and salted 
three hundred. They then sailed out of the strait, 
and bore away for England. The last ringleader 
in the rebellion died on the voyage. They reached 
their own country, after being driven to the very 
extremity of starvation, a wretched, guilty com- 
pany as ever returned from an arctic exploration. 



48 Arctic Heroes. 

Their suffering, miserable condition seems to have 
turned aside the sword of justice, usually so quick 
in old England to punish crimes like theirs, and 
they were not arrested. Indeed, two of them 
sailed in the next arctic expedition. 



Shipwreck and Escape. 49 



CHAPTER VI. 

SHIPWRECK AND ESCAPE. 

HUDSON'S discovery of a great body of 
water, extending farther west than previous 
voyagers had sailed, created great excitement. 
Much controversy was the result, some contend- 
ing that the highway to India, so long sought, led 
out of it. But it was a long time, as we shall see, 
before much additional knowledge was obtained 
of regions lying farther west. 

In 16 16 William Baffin discovered the bay 
which bears his name. It is a vast^ extent of 
water, eight hundred miles long and three hundred 
wide. Its discovery was a full compensation to 
the world for the failures of many previous expe- 
ditions. Its waters have yielded great treasures 
to the adventurous whalemen. Baffin barely 
missed opening to navigation Lancaster Sound. 
He sailed by and observed its entrance, but what 
lay beyond remained unknown for two hundred 
years. 

While the English and other nations were push- 
ing their explorations westward from Hudson 
and Baffin Bay, the Russians were, with equal 
energy, surveying the Arctic coast-line of their 
own extended possessions. From time to time 
expeditions were sent eastward from the White 



So Arctic Heroes. 

Sea, discovering the rivers and bays along the 
Siberian coast, to the Lena. Other expeditions 
sailed west from Bering Strait to the Kolyma 
and Lena. The sufferings of these adventurers 
were very great. Their vessels were small affairs, 
varying from ten to fifty tons, and in the means 
of comfort and safety of life which they afforded 
compared unfavorably with the pleasure yachts of 
our bays. This is true of all the exploring vessels 
of these early times. 

Passing the smaller expeditions which, in their 
aggregate discoveries, opened extended lines of 
sea-coast, we present more fully that of the fa- 
mous Russian commander, Captain Vitus Bering. 
In 1728 he was given the command of two vessels, 
the " Fortuna " and "Gabriel." He sailed from 
the mouth of the Kamchatka River in July, and, 
coasting northward, reached a point in Bering 
Strait where the land swept off to the westward. 
This, he assumed, proved the separation of Asia 
and America, thus settling one of the great ques- 
tions for which the voyage had been undertaken. 
This done, Bering returned home. He was afraid 
of the winter and its Ice King, and seems to have 
cared more for ease and safety than great ex- 
ploits. 

Bering's timid policy lost him no favor with his 
Government. He was advanced to the rank of 
commander, and his lieutenants given commissions 
as captains. Supply depots were established on 
the Kamchatka coast, the exploring interest was 
kept up by the discussion of various projects, until, 



Shipwreck and Escape. 5 1 

in 1 741, Bering again made the long overland 
journey from St. Petersburgh to Avatcha, Kam- 
chatka. His expedition from this port consisted 
of two vessels — the " St. Peter," commanded by 
himself, and the " St. Paul," Chirikoff, captain. 
They sailed on the 4th of June, and on the 20th 
of June the vessels were separated by a storm, 
and were not again in company. About the mid- 
dle of July the " St. Paul " anchored off the Ameri- 
can coast. The long-boat, with eleven armed 
men, was sent ashore. Anxiously, for six days, 
the commander waited in vain for its return. 
Then a smaller boat, with six men, was sent to 
search for it, but neither of the boats returned, 
and the fate of the men remained a matter of 
conjecture. A sad intimation, however, of their 
end was given by the appearance the next day of 
two canoes filled with savages. On seeing the 
Russians crowding their vessels' deck, they made 
a fierce outcry and paddled swiftly away. 

Having now no boats, Chirikoff sailed back 
to Avatcha, having on his voyage lost twenty- 
one of his seventy men; four, among whom 
was a celebrated naturalist, Crozere, died of 
scurvy. 

Bering, in the " St. Peter," had a more eventful 
career. The first land he made on the American 
coast was examined by two boats in reference to 
a supply of fresh water. One of them, com- 
manded by Steller, met a small company of the 
natives, who were peaceably disposed. They con- 
sisted of men only, who had been on a fishing ex- 
4 



52 Arctic Heroes. 

cursion. They had captured a whale, and offered 
the strangers some of the blubber, urging them 
to eat. 

Though the result of these boat excursions was 
favorable to a longer stay, Bering hoisted sail and 
put to sea. A violent storm, which lasted seven- 
teen days, overtook him, and he was driven far to 
the southward. To add to his disasters the scurvy 
broke out among the crew. A good supply, freely 
eaten, of the whale's flesh which the Esquimo 
tendered might have prevented this. As it was, 
the men were generally disabled, and many died. 
The steersman was upheld by a comrade on either 
side, both about as feeble as he. When the ship's 
watches were changed, it was but one set of invalids 
succeeding another. A cold rain, by which they 
had been drenched, was succeeded by sleet and 
snow. The nights grew longer and the darkness 
more intense, while, at the same time, they became 
entangled in a scattered group of islands. The 
supply of water was small, and the quality poor. 
The sailors were at last so few in number and so 
weak that they were unable longer to manage the 
ship, and she was for several days driven by the 
wind or drifted by the current. On the 4th of 
November the crew rallied, and attempted to re- 
gain command of the ship, and put her prow to 
the westward. While struggling to accomplish 
this they were thrilled with joy at the sight, in the 
distance, of snow-capped mountains. They knew 
not whether they were those of their own Kam- 
chatka or some far away island. Before they 



Shipwreck and Escape. 53 

could reach the shore the long, dark, and intensely. 
cold night set in. During its weary, slow-passing 
hours, the cordage supporting one side of the 
masts gave way, rendering the larger sails useless. 
Thus crippled, and about destitute of water, they 
determined, at all risks, to run the vessel ashore. 
For this purpose, when the morning dawned, they 
hoisted some light sail upon the quivering masts. 
Seeing the ship drifting upon a rocky reef, they 
threw out an anchor; but the cable soon parted, 
and she struck twice upon it. A moment after, 
however, a huge wave lifted her up, and bore her 
safely over the reef into calm water with a sandy 
bottom. They were but a short distance from the 
shore. They were in a land-locked harbor, and 
had been driven in through a merciful providence 
by the winds and waves through the narrow and 
only possible entrance. They rested until noon 
of the next day. Bering had been for some time 
confined to his berth with the scurvy. Waxel, who 
succeeded to the command, and Steller, surgeon 
and naturalist, now landed to explore the country. 
It was dreary enough. There were no trees in- 
viting them to a shelter under their intertwining 
branches ; no Esquimo huts offered their simple 
hospitality. One feature only was cheering : there 
was a beautiful stream of pure water, which the 
Ice King, forbidden by the Great King, had not 
yet touched by his congealing wand. It was mur- 
muring a plaintive welcome to the forlorn strangers 
as it rushed over its rocky bed. 

Waxel and Steller found some excavations in 



54 Arctic Heroes. 

Jhe banks of this stream, which they resolved to 
cover with the sails of the ship as the best tem- 
porary provision they could make for the sick. 
This they did, and in a few days attempted to 
bring them ashore. Some died the moment they 
reached the open air; others died on board the 
boat, and some immediately on landing. 

These deceased comrades were laid in a solemn 
row on the shore to await a kindly burial; but 
their bodies were instantly attacked by rapacious 
foxes, who mangled some of them before they 
could be interred. 

On the second day of the removals, Bering was 
brought ashore and placed in a hut by himself. 
He was tenderly carried by his men from the 
boat, and his necessities were met as far as the 
painful circumstances allowed. But he rapidly 
sunk under his disease, his age and temperament 
being against him. He became delirious as his 
life drew to a close, imagining his friends to be his 
enemies, and not permitting some of them to come 
into his presence. He indulged the strange fancy 
of scooping up the loose sand near his bed and 
covering his feet with it. He was very angry if his 
attendants removed it. He was finally left to 
gratify this strange desire, and he sunk into the 
arms of death, half buried by his own hands. His 
name was given to the island, which has become 
to all nations, and all succeeding generations, his 
monument. 

No other officer died, though several others 
were at times attacked with the prevailing disease. 



Shipwreck and Escape. 55 

But the disasters of the wretched company were 
not ended. A few days after the burial of their 
commander a violent storm arose. The sea broke 
over the reef girding their harbor, and rolled vast 
waves to the shore. Their ship, their only de- 
pendence for escape, swung uneasily at her moor- 
ing. She had lost two anchors, and one only 
remained. None but men situated as they were 
can appreciate the anxiety with which they watched 
her unequal contest with the mighty sea. All 
day of the 29th of September she bravely clung 
to her anchor. The night, long, dark, and fearfully 
tempestuous, set in, and left the shipwrecked 
islanders to watch through its hours in torturing 
uncertainty. 

When, at last, the morning lighted up the shore, 
the ship was seen upon the beach, buried deep 
in the sand, and sadly shattered by the waves. 
A large part of their provisions, which, strange 
to say, had not been removed to the shore, 
was lost. 

The party began now to look about them most 
carefully. They soon learned that they were 
upon an island. They found drift-wood, by dig- 
ging under the snow, for improving their huts and 
for fuel. This was a timely supply, without which 
they must have perished. The blue and white 
foxes, which annoyed them on landing, and sacri- 
legiously attacked their dead, were glad to keep 
out of their way, and were made to help largely 
in supplying their table. "The sea-beaver," as 
they called another of the island animals, they ate 



56 Arctic Heroes. 

only when hard pressed for food, as their flesh was 
hard and " stringy." They even turned up their 
noses at the flesh of the seal, pronouncing its 
smell and taste decidedly disagreeable, (which 
proves that they were not driven very near to the 
verge of starvation.) The " sea-lion " they pro- 
nounced excellent. The walrus was much rel- 
ished, the flesh being " like beef," and the young 
ones tasting like " the best veal ;" they used their 
fat for butter. They even salted several hogsheads 
of this walrus meat for their voyage of escape, if 
they ever made one. A part of the small remains 
of the provision saved from the ship was put 
away for the same purpose. 

At a time in the winter when they seemed in 
some danger of falling short of provisions a w r hale 
came ashore near their huts. They found its 
flesh, when separated by boiling from the fat, good 
eating. In the spring another whale stranded 
upon their beach. Thus God wonderfully pro- 
vided for these shipwrecked islanders. 

It was now April, 1742; the snow had melted, 
and the wreck and drift-wood were uncovered. 
They began to debate the question, How shall we 
escape from the island ? — a question, one would 
think, hard to answer. Waxel proposed tearing 
the old wreck to pieces, and the construction of a 
smaller vessel of the materials. All concurred in 
the proposal. But the carpenters of the expedi- 
tion, three in number, had died during the winter. 
Here was a serious perplexity. In the emergency 
a Cossack, by the name of Sawa, who had worked 



Shipwreck and Escape. 57 

awhile in a Russian navy-yard, stepped forward 
and said he would try. The commander sug- 
gested the dimensions, fonty feet long and thirteen 
broad. The vessel was begun in May, and on the 
10th of August it was launched and named the 
" St. Peter." It had one mast and one deck. A 
cabin was built on the after-part, and a cook-house 
on the fore-part. The shot and iron of the wreck 
were used as ballast. Arrangements were made 
for four oars amid-ships. Favored by calm weath- 
er after the launching, they hung the rudder, put 
in the mast, " bent the sails," took the provisions 
and the few valuables their shipwreck had left them, 
adding no small amount of furs collected on the 
island. Having built their sailing vessel, they 
added to it a boat large enough to carry nine 
persons. 

Seldom have men reduced to so desperate a 
condition risen to one so hopeful. On the 16th 
of August they bid adieu to their island home, 
manned their oars, rowed over the reef, and, when 
well out to sea, hoisted sail and steered for Kam- 
chatka. Their vessel behaved well, to the joy 
of all and the honor of Sawa. On the 27th they 
safely entered the port from whence they had 
sailed with such high hopes fifteen months be- 
fore. ChirikofFs ship, though it had been out in 
search of them, was there. They were, of course, 
warmly welcomed, and became the heroes of the 
hour. Sawa was regarded as the rescuer of the 
company, and was made a nobleman of inferior 
order. 



58 Arctic Heroes. 

Thus ended the last expedition under Bering — 
its shipwreck and escape. 

Having thus shown the progress of arctic dis- 
covery into the middle of the eighteenth century, 
we will pause to glance at some of its moral and 
religious results. 



Arctic Mission - Work. 59 



CHAPTER VII. 

ARCTIC MISSION-WORK. 

WE have related in an early chapter the 
fact that a Danish settlement in Greenland 
immediately followed the pioneer voyagers. We 
have noted, too, the history of a Roman Catholic 
mission whicji attended it, and given passing notice 
of the remarkable circumstance that the entire 
colony, with its mission, was mysteriously blotted 
out. We devote now a few pages to the revival 
of the mission-work there by better teachers with 
a purer faith. 

In the early part of the eighteenth century a 
Norwegian boy by the name of Hans Egede list- 
ened to the wonderful legends of his fatherland 
with deep interest. The stories concerning the 
Zenos especially impressed him. Mixed with tales 
of their shipwreck on the Greenland shore were 
vague accounts of heroic Christian efforts for the 
conversion of its heathen people. The lack of 
reliable information as to what had been done 
afforded a broad field for the exercise of his lively 
imagination. His desire to preach Christ in Green- 
land grew with his increasing years, and became 
the staple of his talk. But the Church received 
his suggestions coldly, and the world laughed at 
him. Being thus restrained, he became parish 



60 Arctic Heroes. 

minister at Vogen, in the north of Norway, was 
married, and had four children. But the fiery 
zeal of his youth for Greenland and its perishing 
heathen burned with unabated intensity. His 
wife even opposed it, but Egede had no rest. 
" He that forsaketh not all that he hath for my 
sake is not worthy of me," seemed ever ringing in 
his ears. He spread the matter before God in 
earnest daily prayer. His wife's objections were 
first removed, and she became an ardent co- 
operator, declaring she was ready to forsake all 
and to face every toil and danger. .He pressed 
his suit upon the Mission College, and was rejected 
with some assurance of future aid. He next ap- 
peared before the king himself. Royal ears were 
opened to his impassioned appeal, difficulties gave 
way, ten thousand dollars were raised, a small 
vessel, called the " Hope," purchased, and Hans 
Egede with his family landed in 'Greenland in the 
summer of 1721. He chose for his first station 
a small island near the mouth of the Baal River, in 
latitude about 65 . 

Strange to say, Egede, with all his seemingly 
God-inspired zeal and his undoubted Christian 
heroism, mistook at first, at least, the vital duty of 
a true apostolic missionary — that of preaching 
Christ. He began his instructions with the story 
of the creation, and endeavored thus indirectly to 
prepare his hearers for the story of the cross. His 
Christian spirit conciliated the natives, and sub- 
dued the opposition of prejudice which first at- 
tended his good offices. Still none were con- 



Arctic Mission- Work. 61 

verted. He toiled on ten long years, patiently 
praying and waiting. 

In 1 73 1 Egede seems to have begun to have 
some fruit, for several were baptized. Two of 
these were taken to Denmark by the colonists, 
and their story awakened a deep interest in the 
minds of the devoted Moravians of that country. 
Their story was reported to the congregation 
at Herrnhut. Matthew Stach arose and said : 
" Send me to Greenland ; the Lord hath called 
me." His cousin, Christian Stach, added, " Me, 
too, hath God commanded to go ! " Christian 
David, a veteran teacher, united with them in 
the noble enterprise. 

The congregation which said to these brethren, 
" Go ; God be with you, and bless you ! " were a 
poor persecuted people. They had only their 
blessing to give. 

These three started for Copenhagen, a district 
of five hundred miles, afoot, carrying their entire 
worldly substance on their backs. The day be- 
fore starting they received an unsolicited dona- 
tion, and while this lasted they refused all prof- 
fered charities by the way. 

When they arrived at Copenhagen they were 
regarded as fanatics. Count Pless inquired of 
them how they would support themselves in 
Greenland. 

" With our hands/' was the prompt reply. 

" How will you find shelter and a home ? " 

"We will build a house and live in it." 

" But there is no timber in Greenland ! " 



62 Arctic Heroes. 

" Then we will dig a hole in the ground and 
live in that ! " 

" No," replied the count, " that will be too bad. 
Here's money enough to buy lumber for a house ; 
carry the material for your home with you, and 
God bless you ! " 

They arrived in Greenland in April, 1733, and 
built their humble house on the mainland near the 
island on which Egede had so long toiled. They 
put up, also, a house in which to receive the natives 
who might visit them. They called their locality 
Herrnhut. Scarcely had they become settled be- 
fore the small-pox swept away large numbers 
of the natives, and prostrated the missionaries. 
While thus burdened they were cheered by the 
unexpected coming to join them in their labors 
of two of their brethren from home, Beck and 
Boenish. These so diligently and aptly applied 
themselves to the Esquimo language that they 
soon printed for native use copies of the Lord's 
Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' 
Creed. But they were unsuccessful in hunting, 
not having learned the ways of the natives in this 
respect. Their stock of provisions was much 
reduced, so that there remained for the entire 
mission only a barrel and a half of oatmeal, with 
no apparent resource when that should be eaten. 
The Esquimo, seeing their reduced state, watched 
for the moment when starvation should make 
them helpless to utterly destroy them. But the 
men of God cried unto him, and in the spring of 
1736 ample supplies w^re sent by an unknown 



Arctic Mission -Work. 63 

benefactor in Holland. Having thus enough to eat 
for the present, more laborers and more mouths 
to feed came from their home. In the sum- 
mer following, the mother of Matthew Stach, a 
widow, and his two sisters, joined the mission. 
The mother immediately relieved the men of the 
burden of domestic affairs, and the sisters — Rosina, 
twenty-two years old, and Anna twelve — showed 
great aptness in learning the native language, and 
soon became efficient spiritual helpers. For two 
years from this time this united, unflinching compa- 
ny of eight Christians endured all manner of annoy- 
ances from those whom they came to tell of Jesus 
and his love. Hideous howlings saluted their ears 
by night. Whenever they went out they were 
mocked, pelted with stones, and threatened wi£h 
death. Their boats were loosened from their 
moorings and set adrift. 

Thus affairs stood when a party of South Green- 
land natives arrived at the settlement. One of 
them, Kayarnak, was at one time sitting near 
Beck while he was attempting the translation of 
the Gospel of Matthew. He was curious to learn 
what the white teacher was doing. Beck read to 
him the story of the cross. The savage and his 
companions listened with tearful eyes. " Tell me 
that again," exclaimed Kayarnak. He became at 
once a keen and earnest inquirer. He came and 
settled near the mission, bringing two other fami- 
lies, who became inquirers. The other South 
Greenlanders mocked and soon left ; but five 
candidates for baptism, including Kayarnak, came 



64 Arctic Heroes. 

out of the three families. Morning and even- 
ing prayers were established in these households, 
and they progressed rapidly in the knowledge of 
the Christian faith. 

Sunday, March 29, 1739, was a g reat day at 
Herrnhut. Kayarnak, his wife, a son and a daugh- 
ter, were baptized in the midst of prayers, thanks- 
givings, tears, and the melting power of the Spirit. 
The aged Egede had been called home by his king 
to teach the Esquimo language to those purpos- 
ing to join the colony. But his son had taken his 
place in the mission-work, and rejoiced at this 
harvest home. 

This baptism of the Spirit was followed by a 
baptism of blood. A brother of Kayarnak, who 
had become an inquirer, was killed, and Kayarnak 
himself was driven, with his family, under the 
threat of death, to South Greenland. But he 
carried the presence of the Saviour and the good 
news of salvation with him. Soon twenty-one 
boats, filled with his countrymen, came to Herrn- 
hut inquiring about this new way and a risen 
Christ. At the expiration of a year Kayarnak 
himself, with his family, accompanied by a brother 
and family as inquirers, made their welcome ap- 
pearance at the mission. After a brief but faith- 
ful career Kayarnak died, attesting joyfully in 
death, as he had in life, the power of Divine grace. 
The good work spread. In one Esquimo hut the 
inmates sat up all night listening with unwearied 
attention to the Word of Life. 

In 1747 the material for a house- --of worship 



Arctic Mission -Work. 6$ 

was sent from Denmark by the friends of the 
mission, and it was dedicated with great joy. The 
next year thirty-five natives professed to obtain 
renewing grace and were baptized. A few years 
after a devastating disease was introduced from the 
whale-ships, and nearly two score of the native 
converts died; but in death they triumphed, and 
witnessed a good confession. 

A few years later Matthew Stach, assisted by 
two recruits from the home congregation, estab- 
lished a new mission at a more southern point, 
which he called Lichtenfels. In a great emer- 
gency for a church, these brethren laid their case 
before God in prayer. God had given them the 
ears of the natives, whole families had professed 
to find Christ, and a house of worship was deemed 
necessary for the permanent usefulness of the 
mission. Thus situated, the winds and the strong 
current which had visited more southern shores 
brought a large amount of drift timber. Out of 
this the church was erected. 

From this time the good work went steadily 
forward, its harvest-fields covering a greater area, 
its sowers and reapers increasing, and its sheaves 
more perfectly ripening for the heavenly garner. 
The whole New Testament was in due time 
translated and printed in Esquimo by the British 
and Foreign Bible Society. A training-school has 
been established at the Herrnhut Mission to pre- 
pare native Christians to preach to their coun- 
trymen. Re-union meetings of the native con- 
verts are at times held. At one of these two 



66 Arctic Heroes. 

hundred and thirty-seven partook of the sacrament 
together, rejoicing with great joy. 

Thus have arctic explorations been followed by 
the precious influences of the Gospel. 

The reader will now readily recall the last 
chapter — its story of shipwreck and escape — and 
go with us on another voyage of exploration. 



A Sudden Retreat 67 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A SUDDEN RETREAT. 

THESE repeated disasters of the explorers 
seem not to have dampened the ardor of 
either the governments or the sailors in their 
desire to sail round the continents through the 
northern sea. Their desire to visit the North 
Pole was as intense as if they knew it to consist 
of a mountain of gold. 

In 1743 the British Parliament offered a reward 
of one hundred thousand dollars to the lucky 
navigator who, sailing through Hudson Strait, 
should come out on the other side of the Ameri- 
can continent. It appears to have been assumed 
that this prize could be taken by one giving cer- 
tain proof that this could be done. So land as 
well as sea expeditions were tried. These started 
from the trading depots of the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany, and traversed their vast territory toward the 
Arctic Sea. In 1869-72 Hearne reached a large 
and rapid river — the Coppermine — and floated 
nearly to its mouth. The next expedition, ten 
years later, by Mackenzie, followed the nobler 
Mackenzie River in the same direction. Neither 
were certain that they had reached the ocean. So 
the century closed with the vexed question un- 
answered. 
5 



68 Arctic Heroes. 

Wars now for many years kept the thoughts 
and ships of commercial nations at home. Na- 
poleon Bonaparte, fiercer than a polar bear, was 
making sad havoc of thrones. When, at last, the 
smoke of battles had cleared away, the attention 
to arctic exploration was renewed, largely by the 
influence of William Scoresby, a captain of a 
whale-ship. When a boy, in a whaler commanded 
by his father, he had reached a higher latitude 
than any yet attained. He was only twenty-one 
years old when his father retired from the service, 
giving his son the command of his ship. 

In 1 817 Captain Scoresby observed a remarkable 
change in the northern ice-fields. He reported 
that Baffin Bay, and the waters even far beyond, 
were free from ice, while large quantities were 
drifting south over the Atlantic to melt in a warmer 
region. He called the attention of Sir Joseph 
Banks, President of the Royal Society, to this re- 
markable fact in a well-written letter. The old 
enthusiasm began to glow among the great men. 
Scoresby's suggestions were readily taken up, but 
not the man. Though eminently qualified for the 
command, which he sought, of one of the explor- 
ing ships, only officers from the navy were allowed 
the honor, " red tape " prevailing over common 
sense and the best interests of exploration. 

Two fine ships were soon in readiness: the larg- 
er, the " Isabella," three hundred and eighty-five 
tons, was commanded by Mr. (afterward Sir John) 
Ross; the smaller, the "Alexander," two hundred 
and fifty tons, was under the command of Lieu- 



A Sudden Retreat. 69 

tenant Edward Parry. These vessels were not 
only larger than their predecessors in the same 
service, but were better furnished in all respects. 
The best instruments known to science were on 
board, and a man skilled in using them, Captain 
Sabine, was detailed for that purpose. Not the 
least valuable member of this expedition was an 
Esquimo by the name of Sackhouse. He had 
been converted through the influence of the Danish 
mission in Greenland, and had been twice in Scot- 
land, spending a considerable time under English 
instructors. He had a pleasing address and a 
true Christian spirit. He now joined the expedi- 
tion as an interpreter. 

A skillful draughtsman, Lieut. Hoppner, was 
taken to sketch the headlands and bays and other 
objects of interest, and to devote his time espe- 
cially, to laying down charts of the coast. Special 
stress was laid, in the orders given to Captain Ross, 
on the importance of affording the scientific officer 
and the artist every possible opportunity to operate 
in their departments of the service. 

On the 30th of April, 181 8, the ships sailed. 
Having passed the southern cape of Greenland, 
and coasting northernly, they were soon ice- 
locked. On one occasion the two ships made fast 
to an iceberg, and made a merry time of it. The 
officers admired the scenery. Far to the east was 
the dark outline of " Greenland's icy mountains," 
while to the west was a dreary horizon of masses 
of packed ice. For a short distance around their 
berg was open water. 



70 Arctic Heroes. 

Upon the berg itself were sights worth seeing. 
The scientific men — a little group — occupied an 
isolated spot, busy with their instruments. At a 
distant point a party of sailors were shooting sea- 
fowl, bringing down many at every shot ; near the 
ship were sailors taking in ice for water; higher 
up the crystal mountain were some of the men 
amusing themselves by sliding down from the top 
into the valley below ; others were quietly looking 
on, finding a real pleasure in seeing the happiness 
of their comrades. But the most exciting scene 
was a battle going on between a part of the offi- 
cers and men of the two ships. High up the berg 
was a company behind an icy rampart. Below was 
an assailing party, boldly ascending, as best they 
could, the slippery height to dislodge them. Both 
parties were well armed — with snow-balls ! The 
fight finally proved rather a cold one, and ended 
without bloodshed. It afforded a pleasant evi- 
dence that there were no jealousies among the 
members of this expedition. 

Leaving the iceberg, they found favorable sail- 
ing until they reached the Danish and Esquimo 
settlement of Disco. Here was a fleet of twenty- 
five or thirty English whale-ships, waiting for the 
ice to open. It had the appearance of a home 
seaport. 

A party of Esquimo came on board Captain 
Ross' ship, and the value of Sackhouse as an in- 
terpreter was soon seen. A trade for dogs and 
sledges was soon completed ; after which the artist 
made a sketch of the group of natives, which greatly 



A Sudden Retreat. ji 

pleased them ; they then danced Scotch reels on 
deck with the sailors, to the delight of all parties. 

Sackhouse was especially attracted by one of 
the half-Danish young ladies. One of the officers, 
noticing his partiality, gave him a lady's shawl, 
sparkling with a spangled border, as a present to 
the young belle. He received it gladly, and pre- 
sented it to her with a graceful bow. The young 
woman blushingly acknowledged the gift, and in 
return gave Sackhouse a pewter ring taken from 
her finger. 

Sackhouse went on shore with the visitors, and 
not returning seasonably the next day, messengers 
were sent to hunt him up. He was found, after 
some search, in a hut seriously injured and suffer- 
ing greatly. He had gone out early to shoot some 
specimens of natural history for the members of 
the scientific corps. Thinking, as he said, "Plenty 
powder, plenty kill," he had overloaded his gun. 
The result was " plenty hurt " in the breaking of 
his collar-bone by the recoil of his gun. It was a 
considerable time before his full recovery. 

The ice breaking up, our explorers sailed, in 
company with the whalers, up the eastern side of 
Baffin Bay. While the whole fleet were within 
sight, at various distances, there occurred a natural 
phenomenon, curious enough to them, but quite 
common in the arctic regions. Some of these 
ships, by unequal refraction, appeared from the 
deck of the u Isabella " as if they were lifted up to 
a great height, while others at a greater distance 
were flattened to the surface of the sea. 



72 Arctic Heroes. 

The ships were soon taught to keep out of each 
other's way, as the mighty ice-currents sometimes 
brought them in violent collision with each other. 

Occasionally the ships were towed along the 
edge of great masses of floating ice by the sailors 
tugging at a long rope. As the ice was thin, they 
not ^infrequently broke through and received a 
cold bath. But as they did not happen all to 
break through at the same time, the unfortunate 
one had only to hold fast to the rope and be 
drawn out. 

The explorers came, at one time, to an island 
about which were some Esquimo with their dog- 
sledges, the ice being unbroken on the land side. 
They had evidently never seen white men nor 
their ships. They looked amazed for awhile, and 
then scampered off. In a few hours they shyly 
returned. Sackhouse approached them with signs 
of peace. When at a distance he shouted, " Come 
on!" to which they replied, "No; go away!" 
One drew his knife, and added, " I can kill you ! " 

But Sackhouse was full of tact and courage. 
He threw them some beads and a shirt. These de- 
sirable things not quite overcoming their fears, he 
tossed them an English knife. They made a rush 
for this, and, as one picked it up, they all pulled 
their noses and exclaimed, " Heigh yaw ! " Sack- 
house pulled his own nose and echoed, " Heigh yaw !" 

The gifts, nose pulling, and " yaws " were potent 
peace-makers, and a talk commenced. 

"What," asked the natives, pointing to the 
ships, " are those great creatures ? " 



A Sudden Retreat. 73 

" Houses made of wood, ,, said Sackhouse. 

" No; they are alive. We saw them move their 
wings. Did they come from the sun or moon ? " 

" From that way," said Sackhouse, pointing 
south. 

" No," said the doubting natives; "there is only 
ice that way." 

As the Esquimo could not be enticed on board 
the ships, commanders Ross and Parry came out 
with their hands full of presents. The Esquimo 
began to move off at their approach. Sack- 
house called to the officers to pull their noses 
and shout, u Heigh yaw ! " The magic words 
opened a friendly intercourse. Among other gifts 
they were presented with a looking-glass. They 
gazed steadily at their own faces for a few mo- 
ments in blank amazement, and then broke into 
an immoderate laugh, in which both parties joined 
heartily. 

The expedition reached at last Smith Sound, 
as it was called, but Ross strangely passed it by 
without attempting an exploration ; in the same 
way he passed Jones Sound, losing the oppor- 
tunity of proving that they were both straits. 

Entering Lancaster Sound, they found the water 
entirely free from ice in a westerly direction. With 
high hopes, before favoring winds, they sailed for 
awhile directly on the highway to the spice islands 
of India, as most, if not all the men, except Ross, 
believed. All at once the " Isabella " tacked ship 
on the return voyage. Parry reluctantly followed in 
the " Alexander," mortified and vexed. The expe- 



74 Arctic Heroes. 

dition arrived safely in England, where a hue and 
cry was raised against Ross. He declared, in self- 
defense, that he clearly saw a-head a dark outline 
of mountain barriers, proving that navigation ex- 
tended no further. As it has since been proved 
that none existed, it is not strange that Parry did 
not see them. 

Thus ingloriously ended this finely-equipped 
expedition. 



Striking Incidents. 75 



CHAPTER IX. 

STRIKING INCIDENTS. 

AT the same time that the Ross and Parry 
expedition left England for Baffin Bay, two 
other ships sailed on the same general errand. 
They were the "Dorothea" and "Trent." The 
first was commanded by Captain Buchan, in com- 
mand also of the expedition, and the other by 
Lieutenant John Franklin. Captain Buchan was 
instructed to sail his ships between Spitzbergen and 
Greenland, touching at neither, but keeping straight 
on to the North Pole, and from thence to the ap- 
pointed place of meeting with Ross' ships on the 
western coast of America. Both expeditions were 
to " conquer success/' and do what others had so 
long tried to do. We have seen how Ross came 
out ; let us follow Buchan. 

He, too, as an incidental but important duty, 
was to see that all possible experiments were made 
during the voyage "on the elliptical figure of the 
earth ; on magnetic phenomena ; on the refraction 
of the atmosphere in high latitudes in ordinary 
circumstances, and over extensive masses of ice ; 
and on the temperature and specific gravity of the 
sea at the surface and at various depths ; and on 
meteorological and other interesting phenomena." 

The two ships, having left England in April, 1818, 



j6 Arctic Heroes. 

were in a few weeks entangled in the ice, with a 
storm upon them. They, however, kept together, 
and succeeded in getting under the lee of Bear 
Island, lying nearly two degrees south of Spitz- 
bergen. This was then a famous fishing-ground, 
but was especially noted as a resort for walruses. 
The Muscovy Company sent its ships here for 
their oil. One ship's crew sometimes killed a 
thousand of these sea-monsters in a single day. 
Some of them are as large as the average size of 
our oxen. Their face is said to have somewhat of 
a human expression. It will appear from the fol- 
lowing facts, given by Lieutenant Beechey,an officer 
of the expedition, that they possessed great affec- 
tion among themselves, though savage toward their 
enemies. He says : " In the vast sheets of ice 
which surrounded the ships there were occasionally 
many pools ; and when the weather was clear and 
warm, animals of various kinds would frequently 
rise and sport in them, or crawl from thence upon 
the ice to bask in the warmth of the sun. A walrus 
rose in one of these pools, or openings in the ice, 
close to the ship, and, finding every thing quiet, 
dived down and brought up its young, which it 
held by the breast by pressing it with its flipper. 
In this manner it moved about the pool, keeping 
in an erect posture, and always directing the face 
of the young toward the vessel. On the slightest 
movement on board the mother released her 
flipper and pushed the young one under the water; 
but when every thing was again quiet brought it 
up as before, and for a length of time continued 



Stinking Incidents. jj 

to play about in the pool, to the great amusement 
of the seamen, who gave her credit for abilities in 
instructing her young, which, though possessed of 
considerable sagacity, she hardly merited." 

Another scene presented by the walruses was 
quite as serious as amusing, and, though a little 
comic, came quite near being tragical. -One of 
the sailors of the " Trent " having, from the ship's 
deck, wounded a walrus, a party of seamen manned 
a boat to secure the prize. No sooner had they 
pushed off from the ship than a detachment of the 
walrus army attacked them. They came on, snort- 
ing with rage, and terrific in numbers, size, and 
swiftness, with which they rushed to the assault. 
The boat's crew were taken by surprise and thrown 
off their guard. Some of the enemy, making a 
battering-ram of their heads, rushed furiously at 
the boat's sides, making it tremble in every joint 
with the concussion. Others endeavored to upset 
it by hanging over its sides while hooked on by 
their tusks. But the crew, recovering their self- 
possession, fought for their lives. They pricked 
the enemy in the face with sharp lances, or smote 
them over the head with hatchets. They, however, 
were growing faint with the unequal contest, while 
the walrus leaders pushed forward fresh recruits to 
take the place of their wounded comrades. Just 
at this crisis a monster walrus, evidently the cham- 
pion assailant, rushed upon the boat and seized it 
with his great tusks. He had darted in, to end the 
fray, proclaim the victory, and carry off the spoils. 
But there was one loaded gun in the boat which 



78 Arctic Heroes. 

had been held in reserve, as there was no time to 
load others. This a sailor seized, thrust its 
muzzle down the monster's throat, and fired. The 
boastful champion floated off, a lifeless mass of oil 
and blubber. His companions instantly snorted 
a retreat, and literally bore him off, keeping him 
from sinking by swimming under him, and bearing 
him up by their tusks. 

At one time a large number of walruses were 
basking in the sun upon the beach. The seamen 
fired into them, wounding several, while the rest 
rushed into the sea. Recovering from their panic, 
they returned, and seeing no enemy near com- 
menced tumbling their wounded fellows over with 
their tusks until they reached the water; thus re- 
covering the fallen, they all disappeared together. 

On the 28th of May an arctic fog enveloped the 
ships soon after they had sailed for Bear Island. 
A blinding snow was added to the fog, and the 
ships lost sight of each other. They had agreed 
that in such a case they would meet in Magda- 
lena Bay, a good anchorage on the north-west side 
of Spitzbergen, where they were both snugly shel- 
tered on the 3d of June. They had learned, as 
might have been expected, that it was impossible 
to sail to the pole, as they had been instructed, 
without touching either at Greenland or Spitz- 
bergen. "That little way to the North Pole," as 
one of their patrons had lightly termed it, was a 
bit harder to navigate than the landsman supposed. 

A marked feature of Magdalena Bay was four 
glaciers, the smallest two hundred feet high, mov- 



Striking Incidents. 79 

ing seaward over the slope of a mountain. The 
largest of the four extended several miles inland ; 
the smallest was called the " Hanging Iceberg," 
as it seemed ready at any time to drop into the 
sea. So slightly, in fact, did the projecting ice of 
the glaciers adhere to the mountain or the con- 
gealed mass behind it, that the least noise brought 
down a berg. Beechey describes two very grand 
launches of this kind, which the explorers were 
fortunate enough to witness. He says : " The 
first was occasioned by the discharge of a musket 
at about a half a mile's distance from the glacier. 
Immediately after the report of the gun a noise 
like thunder was heard in the direction of the 
glacier, and in a few seconds more an immense 
piece broke away and fell headlong into the sea. 
The crew of the launch, supposing themselves to 
be beyond its influence, quietly looked upon the 
scene. Presently a sea arose and rolled toward 
the shore with such rapidity, that the crew had no 
time to take any precautions. The boat was in 
consequence washed upon the beach and com- 
pletely filled by the succeeding wave. As soon as 
their astonishment had subsided they examined 
their boat. They found her so badly stove that 
it was necessary to repair her in order to re- 
turn to the ship. They had also the curiosity to 
measure the distance the boat had been carried 
by the wave, and found it to be ninety-six 
feet." 

At another time Beechey and his companions 
were treated to a still grander sight : " This oc- 



80 Arctic Heroes. 

curred," he says, "on a remarkably fine day, when 
the quietness of the bay was first interrupted by 
the falling body. Lieutenant Franklin and my- 
self had approached one of these stupendous 
walls of ice, and were endeavoring to search into 
the innermost recess of a deep cavern that was 
near the foot of the glacier, when we heard a 
report as of a cannon, and, turning to the quarter 
whence it proceeded, we perceived an immense 
piece of the point of the berg sliding down from 
the height of two hundred feet at least, into the 
sea. It dispersed the water in every direction, 
accompanied by a loud grinding noise. A quan- 
tity of water which had previously been lodged in 
fissures, now made its escape over the point of the 
glacier, in many small cataracts." 

The immense waves created by this majestic 
launch, rolled over the bay and struck the " Dor- 
othea," which lay upon her side, aground, four 
miles away. They released her tackle, put her 
in an upright position, and passed on, seeming to 
laugh at the sport they made as she reeled and 
tumbled at their bidding. Beechey adds : " The 
piece that had been disengaged, at first wholly 
disappeared under water, and nothing was seen 
but a violent boiling of the sea, and a shooting up 
of clouds of spray, like that which occurs at the 
foot of a great cataract. After a time it reap- 
peared, raising its head full a hundred feet above 
the surface, with water pouring down from all 
parts of it. Then, laboring as if in doubt which 
way it should fall, it rolled over, and, after rock- 



Striking Incidents. 81 

ing about some minutes, at length became settled. 
We now approached and found it nearly a quarter 
of a mile in circumference, and sixty feet out of 
water. Knowing its specific gravity, and making 
a fair allowance for its inequalities, we computed 
its weight at 451,660 tons. A stream of salt 
water was still flowing down its sides, and there 
was a continual cracking noise, as loud as that of 
a cart whip, occasioned, I suppose, by the escape 
of confined air." 

Our explorers found, as others have done, the 
temperature on the west coast of Spitzbergen to 
be mild, there being little sensation of cold, even 
when the thermometer was only a few degrees 
above freezing. When the sun shone through 
the pure atmosphere the effect was enlivening 
and brilliant. The azure hue was more clearly 
defined than that of an Italian sky. The radia- 
tion of the sun was intense at times. Beechey 
says : " Hence are found rarities of Alpine plants, 
grasses, and lichens, such as in more southern 
climes flourish in great luxuriance. They are 
found ascending to a considerable height, so that 
we have frequently seen the raindeer browsing at 
an elevation of fifteen hundred feet." 

The shores of the islands of Spitzbergen are 
the resort of animals of various kinds and in 
great numbers. The explorers found Magdalena 
Bay a lively place in this respect. Sea birds, of 
various species, filled the air with their merry 
cries. Wherever they went, groups of walruses 
were basking in the sun and indulging in their 



82 Arctic Heroes. 

playful roar. The husky bark of the seal saluted 
their ears by day and night. 

Beechey in referring to the great numbers of 
" the little auk," one variety of sea-fowl, says: 
" We have frequently seen an uninterrupted line 
of them, extending full half way over the bay, or 
to a distance of more than three miles, and so 
close together that thirty have fallen at one shot. 
This living column might be about six yards broad 
and as many deep ; so that, allowing six birds to 
a cubic yard, there would be four millions of these 
creatures on the wing at one time. They rise in 
such numbers as to darken the air, and their 
chorus is distinctly audible at a distance of four 
miles." 

At one of the islets they found the Eider-duck 
in such numbers that it was difficult to walk with- 
out treading on their nests. Against all ordinary 
intruders of the sea-fowl kind they fought with 
courage. When foxes, or other larger animals, 
approached, they hastily drew over their eggs the 
down of their nests and glued it down by an offen- 
sive yellow fluid. This protection was complete 
when once the enemy snuffed the odor. 

The islands near the anchorage of the ships 
were clothed with a soft carpet of moss. To 
these pastures herds of deer swam, feasted, and 
grew fat in great numbers. One small island 
above supplied the expedition with forty carcasses, 
the fat on the loins of which was from four to 
six inches thick. One of them weighed two hun- 
dred and eighty-five pounds. 



Striking Incidents. 83 

Of the affection of these beautiful animals 
Beechey thus writes : " They showed evident 
marks of affection for each other. They were at 
this time in pairs, and when one was shot the 
other would hang over it and occasionally lick it, 
bemoaning its fate ; and, if not immediately killed, 
would stand three or four shots rather than leave 
its companion. This compassionate conduct, it is 
needless to say, doubled our chance of success, 
though I must confess it was obtained in violation 
of our better feelings. " 

The boats of the " Trent " captured several 
reindeer as they were swimming from one island 
to another. These they attempted to domesticate 
on board of the ship, but the poor things were so 
frightened that , they broke their limbs in their 
struggles, and were in mercy killed. 

On the 7th of June the ships attempted to pro- 
ceed on their voyage to the pole. They had the 
usual amount of bufferings by the winds, driftings 
by adverse currents, and collisions and impedi- 
ments in the floating ice, resulting in their return, 
after about three weeks, to Magdalena Bay. 

Resting awhile, and repairing damages, they 
again steered northward. This time the ship 
" Dorothea " was more roughly handled, and came 
near going down with all her crew. The " Trent," 
under the management of the skillful Franklin, 
fared better, but was badly battered. Both re- 
turned to Spitzbergen for repairs, and then re- 
luctantly returned to England with the old report 
—-Ice is king at the north ! 
6 



84 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER X. 

IMPORTANT SUCCESS. 

THE two explorations just noticed — Ross' to 
Lancaster Sound, and Buchan's to Spitz- 
bergen — having ended, others were immediately 
projected. Commander Ross fell into the back 
ground for seeing mountain obstacles where none 
were. His second in command, Lieutenant Parry, 
w r as the " coming man." He had declared that 
all attempts at the north had been abandoned on 
the eve of success. His faith and courage were 
suited to the spirit of the times, and his subse- 
quent success proved that both sprung from real 
strength of character. As we are to sail with this 
noted discoverer now for the first time in full 
command, let us pause and seek a more intimate 
acquaintance before we start. 

Edward Parry was the son of Dr. Parry, of 
Bath, England. He early manifested a desire to 
see the world. When a child he was once found 
in his father's library astride of a. globe. Not 
finding it the most convenient hobby-horse, he 
looked on this side and then on that, as he sat 
mounted, and exclaimed, " How wise it would be 
to go round it ! " Yet he neither purposed nor 
desired to enter the navy. But a divinity directed 
the tide of his life, which he wisely took at the 



Important Success. 85 

flood. Until within a few days of his first sea 
voyage he was studying his father's profession, 
which he intended soon to enter. It happened 
that just at this time a lady friend was visiting the 
family who was related to Admiral Cornwallis, 
then in command of the Channel Fleet. With a 
woman's instinct, this lady friend had seen- Ed- 
ward's adaptation to the sea, and had often urged 
his father to place him in the navy. Strange 
enough, she at this moment succeeded, when he 
was on the eve of professional life — the father con- 
senting and the son agreeing to go on a sea voy- 
age. Admiral Cornwallis was " interviewed," and 
in a few days Edward was shipped on board the 
" Ville de Paris." His ship was immediately sent 
to aid in blockading the French coast to prevent 
Bonaparte from invading England. He afterward 
saw service in the Baltic, and later, in the arctic 
seas, with the whale-fishery protection fleet. He 
had been in Halifax almost soon enough to 
snuff the smoke of the famous battle between the 
" Chesapeake "and u Shannon." So, though he had 
not gone round the globe, he had peered over 
some of its edges. In 181 7 he was recalled from 
service in Bermuda by the alarming illness of his 
father. Remaining idle for some time he felt a 
sailor's restlessness, and wrote to a friend, seeking 
a position in an African discovery expedition. 
Before closing the letter, his eye fell upon a scrap 
in a newspaper concerning a polar expedition. 
He at once added : " Hot or cold is all one to me 
—-Africa or the Pole." This letter was shown to 



86 Arctic Heroes. 

Mr. Barrow — Secretary of the Admiralty, after- 
ward Sir John — then the chief official promoter of 
arctic discovery voyages. He smiled, pocketed 
the letter, and obtained for Edward a commission 
as second in command of the John Ross expedi- 
tion, where we have made a slight but favorable 
acquaintance with him. 

Let us now return to the story of this chapter — 
Parry's first voyage in full command. 

In v two months after the arrival in England of 
the ships sent out in 1818, two ships, the " Hecla" 
and " Griper,'' were sent into the naval dock to be 
made as strong as oak and iron could be made, to 
fight the arctic ice in the spring of 181 9. Great 
deliberation and careful inquiry and examination 
were used by the Admiralty before selecting a 
commander. But Parry said playfully, " I am sure 
they will give me some finger in this new pie." 
He was at last put in command, and given the au- 
thority necessary to equip the ships and appoint 
their officers and crew. The command of the 
" Griper," a gun-brig of one hundred and eighty 
tons, was given to Lieutenant Liddon. 

It is a singular fact that while Parry was given 
this flattering authority, yet he sailed on this ex- 
pedition with no higher rank than that of lieu- 
tenant, while his neglected former commander, 
Ross, was promoted to a captaincy. The pro- 
motion was given, probably, to conciliate wounded 
pride. Parry, who never seemed at a loss for a 
pertinent word, complacently remarks in reference 
to these facts: "Promotion is nothing to the 



Important Success. 8y 

command of the 'Hecla,' with the chart of Lan- 
caster Sound in my hand." 

The two vessels contained ninety-four men, 
fifty-eight in the " Hecla," and thirty-six in the 
" Griper." They sailed on the nth of May, 1819, 
a fortnight later than the start of the preceding 
year. But they made better time by a month in 
reaching the mouth of Lancaster Sound. But to 
reach it they had to fight their way along the 
west coast of Greenland, although they had no 
worse difficulty than " floes " and threatening bergs. 
But when they undertook to force their way through 
the middle pack, the work was truly terrifying. 
Now they were pushing cautiously through the 
loose current or wind-driven ice ; then they were 
" tracking " along the edge of ice as solid, appar- 
ently, as the land, the sailors strung along with the 
drag ropes over their shoulders ; and, at another 
time, they hastily " tumbled " into their boats to 
tow the ship from a threatened " nip " between 
two icebergs. A week was thus spent ; the western 
side of Baffin Bay was gained. With a fair, fresh 
breeze, a clear sea and jubilant feelings, the ships 
entered, and went spanking up Lancaster Sound. 
The mast-heads were crowded by the officers, and 
the men were scattered about the rigging, all with 
throbbing hearts, waiting the developments of their 
sailing through these hitherto unknown waters. 
The men on deck received the messages sent down 
from the crow's-nest with almost breathless inter- 
est. Every day's western progress added to their 
now greatly excited hope. On and still on they 



88 Arctic Heroes. 

sailed, and no bugbear mountains impeded their 
course, nor for a long time did any real obstacle 
destroy their cherished expectations. Once land 
ahead caused a momentary despondency, but it 
proved to be an island. In endeavoring to go 
south of it, they discovered an opening from the 
Sound southward which Parry named Prince 
Regent Inlet. Soon after they discovered a broad 
channel to the north, and called it Wellington 
Channel. Thus they were giving to the world 
a knowledge of these important waters which 
stand so prominent on the present maps of the 
arctic regions. 

When they had sailed to the ioo° west longi- 
tude, a curious and important incident occurred. 
The compasses first became very sluggish, and 
then failed altogether as they turned into Prince 
Regent Inlet. They felt sure the " magnetic 
north pole " was not far away, but they could not 
stop to ascertain the interesting fact, for were 
they not at last on the long-sought northern high- 
way to India? What was the magnetic pole to 
that ? They soon reached the meridian, no° west 
from Greenwich. His majesty's government had 
offered $25,000 to those of his subjects who first 
reached this point, and the money was now theirs ! 
They lay now off a large island to which they gave 
the -name Melville. They pushed on some days 
more, slowly and laboriously towing and warping 
the ships, until they were reluctantly convinced 
that nothing was left to them but to find, as well 
as they could, the best harbor in which to spend 



Important Success. 91 

the long arctic winter. On the 12th of September 
they were held fast by the ice. A company was 
sent out to obtain information concerning their 
position, and they were overtaken by a snow-storm, 
and did not return at the appointed time. Four 
other parties were sent in search of them, an4 
several days of painful suspense passed before all 
were safely returned. A good harbor was found, 
under Melville Island, two miles off. To this they 
resolved to cut a channel and track their ships. 
They accomplished it in four days, officers and 
men working in good spirits, though often up to 
their knees in water. They anchored the ships 
about a u cable's length " from the shore, amid the 
heartiest cheers. 

Parry's qualifications as a leader in an arctic 
adventure were now more than ever to be tested. 
To govern men having the sharp points of char- 
acter possessed by sailors requires a master-hand, 
even when there is w r ork for them to do, and hope 
of the immediate accomplishment of a desired 
end to stimulate them. But to keep them under 
discipline and in good spirits through long months 
of darkness, with nothing to do, is the test of 
superior tact and energy. Fortunately Parry was 
equal to the situation.' 

The ships were immediately stripped of their 
sails, the upper decks cleared and covered in. 
This made a roomy place for exercise and amuse- 
ments. Hunting parties were organized and " game 
laws " established, that they who " stayed by the 
stuff" might share with those who took the prey. 



92 Arctic Heroes. 

But game was not abundant. The musk-ox's time 
to arrive at the vicinity was in May, and his time 
to leave was the last of September — just as the 
strangers arrived. Bears were occasional visitors, 
and the deer herds remained only through Octo- 
ber. The men seemed not to be skilled in taking 
these animals, though they shot a few deer. Once 
a bear followed a man to the very side of the ship. 
He was wounded, but got off. On another occa- 
sion fifteen deer were seen lying down, not afar 
off, guarded by a faithful stag, who stood as a 
sentinel with head and ears erect. They were 
approached by the hunters and off they ran, their 
leader giving the alarm and occasionally making 
the entire circuit of the fleeing herd as if to warn 
them to keep together ; when any one lagged be- 
hind he quickened its steps by a blow on the rump 
with his horns. Not one was taken by the pur- 
suers. Neither seals nor walruses were seen ; 
even most of the sea-fowls left before mid-winter. 
Wolves and foxes remained to give hideousness to 
the darkness. The " great whales " were abun- 
dant, but none accommodatingly stranded upon 
the beach, as they did for the shipwrecked island- 
ers of the Bering expedition. 

Vegetation was as meager as the animals were 
few. Dwarfed willows, a mean saxifrage, and 
small mosses and grass, made nearly the sum of 
Melville Island greenness. It was, indeed, a dis- 
mal place, and contrasted sharply with the hoped- 
for islands beyond the continent to which they 
believed, a few weeks before, they were sailing. 



Important Success. 93 

\, 

But Parry kept the thoughts of his men pleasantly 
occupied. 

Each day all took a dose of lime-juice and 
water as a preventive of scurvy. The sailors had 
their times of marching around the cleared and 
covered upper-deck, to the tune of a hand-organ 
and vivacious songs. 

The sun left them the 5th of November, but the 
men's thoughts were taken from the gloomy fact 
by the commencement of a series of ingeniously 
continued amusements. Dramatical performances 
had been suggested, and Lieutenant Beechey was 
appointed manager; other officers came forward 
as " star " performers. The plays were both orig- 
inal and selected, Parry writing some of them 
himself. The preparations, of course, excited the 
curiosity of the sailors, and gave them pleasant 
anticipations ; and when the first performance, 
that of " Miss in her Teens," came off, they were 
convulsed with laughter, and were supplied with a 
topic of talk for their idle hours. 

Another means of diversion was the publishing 
of a weekly newspaper. Parry had given the 
name of North Georgian to certain islands of the 
vicinity, so the paper was called, " The North 
Georgian Gazette and Winter Chronicle." All 
were invited to contribute, Captain Sabine taking 
charge as editor. Doubtless its pages were very 
spicy, and its weekly appearance looked for with 
interest ; but the lack of a column of " home 
news " was sadly missed. 

When Christmas came it was enlivened by a 



94 Arctic Heroes. 

dramatic performance of " The North-west Pas- 
sage/' written by Parry. All had as good a dinner 
as the circumstances allowed. The officers' table 
was supplied with a piece of English roast beef, 
preserved since May without salt, simply by 
freezing. 

The sun reappeared above the horizon the 7th 
of February. On the 17th of March daylight 
had so far ventured as to invite all to outside 
work, so the dramatic performance closed with 
a spirited and appropriate address. 

Parry now improved the time in making explo- 
rations. They found on the western side " one of 
the most habitable and pleasantest spots yet seen 
in the arctic regions, the vegetation being more 
abundant than in any other place, and the situa- 
tion favorable for game." 

The ships were not released from their icy fet- 
ters until the 1st of August. Before they left, a 
large block of sandstone was selected on which 
they engraved a record of their stay. 

When relieved from their ten months' imprison- 
ment the explorers made perilous efforts to sail 
farther west. But on the 26th of August, after a 
consultation of the officers of both ships, a voyage 
home by the old way was declared to be the only 
sensible course to be pursued. 

They arrived in England in two months, and 
were received joyfully ; and well they might be, for 
Parry had greatly enlarged the knowledge of the 
polar regions, and made a long stride toward the 
western opening of the north-west passage. He 



Important Success. 95 

had, too, brought back every man with whom he 
sailed, excepting one seaman, who died at Melville 
Island of an old disease. 

Parry was immediately promoted to the rank of 
commander, and honors were showered, upon him 
from every quarter. But as for himself, his first 
act on landing was to march, at the head of his 
officers and men, to church, to render public 
thanksgiving to God for their preservation, and to 
acknowledge his hand in their success. 



96 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER XL 

ARCTIC SEA- MONSTERS. 

OUR narrative of arctic discovery thus far 
has shown that the vast extent of waters 
included in Davis Strait and Baffin Bay had 
become considerably well-known to the civilized 
world. But the reader may be disposed to in- 
quire, What profit to mankind have been these 
perilous adventures ? We shall not be surprised 
if this question is frequently asked as we pro- 
ceed. Since the question is a natural and proper 
one, we will pause occasionally to answer it as far 
as we are able. 

The Greenland whale-fishery followed in the 
wake of these discoveries, and has, down to a late 
period, been a source of wealth both to the new 
and old world. It is so arctic in its character that 
our knowledge of this icy region would be imper- 
fect without a sketch of this perilous business. 
Fortunately we have the material for such a sketch 
furnished by William Scoresby, brought before 
the reader on a previous page, a captain of a 
whale-ship, an intelligent man, a bold explorer of 
the early part of this century, and a true Chris- 
tian. 

The old Northmen did a little at catching the 
monsters of the deep in the waters north-east of 



Arctic Sea-Monsters. 97 

Greenland. In the history of Ohther's voyages, in 
the tenth century, there is something said about 
the Norwegian whalemen. They carried on this 
great business on a small scale, no doubt, and with 
little capital. Later accounts speak of whales on 
the shores of France and Spain, troubling the 
nets of the fishermen. As the whales scorned the 
nets, which, indeed, were not set for them, the 
fishermen shot their arrows into their huge bodies. 
These, very likely, were at first scorned, too ; but 
'men are always great on expedients to conquer 
inferior animals, so that his majesty of the sea 
became, in time, subjected to the lord of creation. 
Whales, like ships, have in every age been occa- 
sionally wrecked. This comes not from being 
blown ashore, nor, we presume, from being carried 
ashore by strong currents, but by pursuing their 
prey too eagerly toward the beaches, and so getting 
aground. It may be that they get up exploring 
expeditions, and are too eager to see the men and 
things on land, just as men are often wrecked by 
being too eager to see the whales and other sights 
on the sea. Be that as it may, so common was it 
in 13 15 for whales to get stranded on the British 
Islands that the king, Edward II., declared by law 
that " all wrecked whales shall belong to the 
crown," and a hundred years later Henry IV. 
gave to the Bishop of Rochester all the stranded 
whales on the coast of his bishopric. What this 
" picking " amounted to we are not informed, but 
it must have been regarded by the bishop as rather 
& fishy way of supporting his dignity. 



98 Arctic Heroes. 

The ships of the Russian Company were the 
first " to strike oil " in the west Greenland seas. 
This was in 1611, and the next year all maritime 
Europe was attacked by the oil fever, and fleets 
spread all sail for these waters. The whales here 
caught were not as large as those they had been 
catching, as they seldom exceeded sixty-five feet 
long, whereas those mostly caught near Spitz- 
bergen were not seldom a hundred feet. But 
these are a different species, having no fins along 
their backs — " smooth backs," as the sailors call 
them — and they contain a wonderfully large fount- 
ain of oil. Their head is immense ; and the lip, 
which is from fifteen to twenty feet in breadth, 
and five to six in height, is attached to the under- 
jaw, and forms the cavity of the mouth. This, 
when open, must therefore expose a very roomy 
place — a comfortable sitting-room, at least, for a 
small family. Scoresby thinks that such a mouth 
would contain a ship's " jolly-boat, " "men and 
all." Parts of such boats, with now and then a 
man, have certainly been taken into such mouths 
in the deadly conflicts between these whales and 
the whalers. In these cases the boat may be 
" jolly," but the men are in another state of mind 
altogether. 

The fins, placed about a third of the length of 
the body from the snout, are from seven to nine 
feet long, and four or five feet broad. Immense 
paddles are these, when worked by an engine sixty 
feet long ! The tail of the whale is an article he 
much esteems, and, if consulted whether to part 



Arctic Sea-Monsters. 99 

with his head or tail, would, we are sure, unhesitat- 
ingly say, " Neither ! " It contains a hundred 
square - feet, supposing it to belong to one of 
average size, and it is with this, in part, that he 
tries to escape from his enemies, the whalemen ; 
not succeeding in this, or if taken unawares, he 
frightens them off by a commotion with it which 
makes the sea boil ; or he may give it a flourish 
and send boat and men high in the air, or to take 
their last plunge in the great deep. 

His eyes, placed in the side of his head, are 
small — only about the size of those of the ox. He 
has no ears, and no place can be discovered for 
the admission of sound until the skin is removed. 
So he is slow to hear, quick to see, and great at 
blowing. The way the latter is done is this : he has 
on the top of his head two nostrils, that is, holes, 
narrow, but six or eight inches long. Through 
these the whale breathes, throwing high into the 
air, when he does so, a vapor mixed with mucous, 
making at the same time a loud noise. 

This Greenland whale has a mouthful of whale- 
bone, which answers his purpose instead of teeth. 
It is the same article that we have for umbrella- 
frames and other uses ; but in the mouth of the 
original owner it is in wide, long sheets with a hair- 
like fringe. These sheets or plates are suspended 
from each side of the upper jaw. A large whale 
carries in this way a ton and a half of this article. 

When feeding on the minute animals which 
crowd the olive-colored waters, the Greenland 
whale swims swiftly just under the surface, with his 



ioo Arctic Heroes. 

capacious mouth open. The water which thus 
pours into it goes out at its sides, passing through 
the hair-like strainer, leaving the food behind. 

The female whale gives birth in the spring to 
one offspring, to which she gives nourishment at 
her breast. Her new-born child is a nice large 
baby, often fourteen feet long. It stays by its 
mother a year or more, and there is the strongest 
affection between them. Scoresby relates the fol- 
lowing incident illustrative of this : — 

" The men of a whale-ship's boat launched a 
harpoon into a baby whale, or ' sucker/ which was 
unwatchfully sporting in the deep with its mother. 
It was easily drawn to the stern of the boat by the 
line attached to the cruel harpoon which had 
entered the vitals of its victim. The mother, for 
the moment, had not missed her child. When she 
saw what had been done while she was off her 
guard, she came at the boat with a fury that made 
even the brave old whalemen tremble. Bending 
with all their might to their oars they rowed away 
from their maddened enemy, at the same time 
letting the line out to which was attached the 
young whale, which, of course, dropped far astern. 
The mother, though mad enough to swallow the 
boat, men and all, stopped, picked up her wounded 
child, and started off in an opposite direction. Six 
hundred feet of line were run out, making a heavy 
burden for her, in addition to the object of her 
care. When the end of the line was reached the 
men still retained its attachment to the boat, thus 
giving the whale the boat to carry as well as the 



Arctic Sea-Monsters. 101 

line and the ' sucker/ Still she clung to it, darting 
this way and that to disengage it from the line. 
While her maternal affection was thus exhausting 
her, the boat stole up, harpoons were plunged into 
her, and mother and young became the prey of the 
fishermen.*' 

The arctic whale, though it can fight for its 
young, and is dangerous when closely pressed, is 
very timid and unconscious of its strength. If it 
were not so the whalemen would fare badly. 
When struck by the harpoon, slyly thrown into 
him, he rounds up his back, turns his head down- 
ward, throws up his enormous tail, and dives 
down — down he goes at the rate of ten or twelve 
miles an hour, and stops not until he reaches bottom. 
The line attached to the harpoon he carries with 
him smokes as it runs over the side of the boat, 
and woe be to the man around whose legs it may 
accidentally be coiled; he is jerked overboard 
and carried down, or his limb torn from his body. 
The boat even, if the line " fouls," that is, fastens 
to any part of it, is carried under, like the cork on 
a boy's fishing-line when a big fish gets hold of 
the bait. 

When the whale has been down from twenty to 
thirty minutes, up his huge form rises to the sur- 
face, disturbing the sea and rolling great waves 
over its surface. The watchful bQats cautiously 
approach, and the monster receives sharp thrusts 
from steel-pointed lances, or from more deadly 
harpoons. The signal is given, and fresh crews and 
other boats hasten to the scene of conflict. The 
1 



102 Arctic Heroes. 

sea, and sometimes the men, are stained with 
blood. If there is an ice-floe near, the whale im- 
mediately rushes for it and dives beneath the sur- 
face. If the whalemen's line of a mile or two 
long runs out before the whale is out of breath, 
his tormentors are glad to "cut away " and lose 
line, whale, and all, rather than risk being drawn 
under the ice. If no such refuge is at hand the 
frightened, bleeding, exhausted monster continues 
to dive and rise to the surface, the whalemen all 
the while greeting his reappearance with a thrust of 
their weapons, now wounding, and then, with the 
shout of " Stern > all ! " darting as swiftly away. It 
is brute strength against intelligent skill, and the 
contest is unequal. That tail does occasionally 
strike avenging blows which clothes a whole ship's 
company in mourning, and puts its flag at half 
mast when she returns home ; but the sea-monster 
is loser in the conflict. 

The following incidents will show the whale's 
side of the contest. A small whale was harpooned 
by a ship's boat. Other boats at the moment 
pushed off from the ship to share the danger and 
triumph of the fray. But the whale proved to be 
both wide awake and plucky. After his first dive 
he started off on the run. The relief boat came 
up, for, with a boat in tow, an iron in his side, and 
the exhaustion, of a long, breathless dive, he made 
only slow time. The harpoons of four boats were 
lodged in him, but still he pushed ahead. One 
boat, thinking to end the chase, ventured too near, 
and was instantly sunk. Finally, he took in tow 



Arctic Sea~Monsters. 103 

six miles of line and three boats, but he was not 
captured until he had drawn his captors nine miles 
from the ship. 

At another time a boat made fast to a whale. By 
hard rowing two others attached themselves, and 
all pricked him with their sharp lances, and lacer- 
ated him with their harpoons at every opportunity. 
To get rid of these annoyances he struck off from 
east to south under water. Having obtained a mile 
of line he swung round in a circuit, working off at 
the same time from the ship. This serious sport 
went on for seven hours, and then a storm arose. 
But both sides refused to yield the contest. To 
impede the progress of the whale, and to keep 
together, the boats were lashed one to the other, 
and put broadside to. Still the smitten monster 
tugged away at the line, now weighing of itself half 
a ton, for another seven hours. The night being at 
hand and the storm increasing, the boats began to 
think of retreating. But to cover their retreat 
they attached the end of the line to a large cask, 
and moored one of the boats to the cask, raised 
upon it the ship's flag, and abandoned the whole. 
They lay by as near as possible during the night, 
and in the morning looked upon a deserted field. 
All was gone, and they returned ingloriously to 
the ship. 

While some whales thus showed fight, the greater 
number yielded their coveted treasures of oil, and 
the arctic whalemen, while often adding quite as 
much as the mere explorers to the world's knowl- 
edge of the northern seas, enriched their owners. 



104 Arctic Heroes. 

One ship's cargo of whalebone and oil sometimes 
sold for a hundred thousand dollars. 

But these gains, like the knowledge of the ex- 
plorers, were obtained at the expense of much suf- 
fering from the cold, great risks from blinding 
fogs, from icebergs, ice-floes, currents, and storms, 
as well as of much peril from the whales them- 
selves. The early whalers which followed in the 
wake of discovery ships seldom returned with all 
the men with whom they left home. Flags at half- 
mast, on returning to the home harbor, solemnly 
attested the dangers of hunting the arctic sea- 
monsters. 



Down the Coppermine. 105 



CHAPTER XII. 

DOWN THE COPPERMINE. 

IN our story of Buchan's expedition to the 
Spitzbergen waters we introduced, as second 
in command, John Franklin. Since he is now to 
appear chief actor in scenes of daring and peril, and 
is to be long before us in our narratives of the ad- 
ventures of others, we give a few facts of his pre- 
vious history. He was trained from boyhood for 
a life on the sea. He first appears in history as 
a midshipman on the Australian coast survey. 
While thus engaged he was shipwrecked in the 
" Porpoise." As midshipman and master's mate 
he was in the fleet with the naval hero, Nelson, 
and at the battle of Copenhagen. He was lieu- 
tenant at the bloody battle of Trafalgar, in 1805. 
He belonged to the ship " Bedford " in the attack 
on New Orleans in 18x5, and there, commanding 
in the boats, he was wounded. His conduct on 
the occasion received " honorable notice " in the 
report of his superior officer. He obtained, in his 
naval experience, the reputation of a thorough 
seaman, a skillful surveyor, an apt handler of 
nautical instruments, and a high-minded, honor- 
able man. 

The spring after his return with the Buchan ex- 
pedition he was given the independent command 



106 Arctic Heroes. 

of a new one, at the same time that his friend 
Parry was so honored. But it was one somewhat 
out of the line of his previous experience. He 
was instructed to proceed through Hudson Bay 
to one of its designated depots on its coast, then 
to go by land to the source of the Coppermine 
River, follow it down to the Arctic Sea, and push 
his way in boats along the coast eastward. It was 
hoped that Parry and Franklin would thus meet 
and prove a north-west passage. 

Franklin left England on this hazardous under- 
taking in May, 1819. His companions were John 
Richardson, naval surgeon, George Back and 
Robert Hood, midshipmen, and John Hepburn, 
servant. Dr. Richardson was an enthusiastic and 
competent naturalist. The midshipmen were apt 
sketchers of natural objects, and skillful in map- 
ping out the surveys. The servant proved himself 
a worthy helper in the enterprise, and not inferior 
to any member of the expedition in times of great 
exigency. 

They arrived at the York Factory, on the south- 
western shore of Hudson Bay, August 30, after 
full an average amount of arctic peril from the ice, 
currents, and storms of the bay. Here they were 
provided with a boat for river voyaging, provis- 
ions, ammunition, and such necessary things de- 
manded by the enterprise. On the 9th of Septem- 
ber they set out, and, after ascending numerous 
rivers, crossing lakes and swamps, making port- 
ages around falls, and weary climbing over hills, 
they arrived at Cumberland House ? on Pine Lake^ 



Down the Coppermine. 107 

the latter part of October. They had traveled 
full seven hundred miles. The midshipmen had 
taken sketches. Dr. Richardson had secured 
valuable contributions to science, and their com- 
bined efforts had resulted in a survey of the route. 
Here they paused until January. They were now 
on a chain of lakes, including the Slave Lakes, 
which bore north-west, and then nearly due north, 
until, with contiguous rivers, they communicated 
with the source of the Coppermine. In January 
the party divided, and Franklin, Back, and Hep- 
burn pushed north-west to Fort Chipeway, on 
Lake Atha jaska, Dr; Richardson and Midshipman 
Hood remaining at the Cumberland House until 
spring. Franklin arrr ed at his point of destina- 
tion the 26th of March, having made a journey of 
eight hundred and fifty-seven miles. The party 
complained bitterly of the difficulty of snow-shoe 
traveling. A clumsy machine of two or three 
pounds weight, attached to swollen ankles and 
galling, bleeding feet, kept them often in an agony 
of pain. 

When the April rains thawed the ice, innumer- 
able frogs commenced an incessant din. So in- 
stantaneous was their croak, with the loosening of 
the ice, that Mr. Hood declared that they must 
have come forth full grown, and just as the fall 
freezing arrested them. Franklin speaks of some 
experiments Dr. Richardson made of the effect of 
cold on fishes. Several were taken in a lively 
condition from the water and frozen in a low 
temperature for thirty-six hours. In this state 



108 Arctic Heroes. 

they could be broken by a blow from the hatchet, 
and their intestines taken out solid. When ex- 
posed to warmth and gradually thawed, they were 
wide awake again and ready for a swim. 

In July Dr. Richardson and Hood having joined 
the party, Franklin began to think of pushing 
forward. Sixteen Canadian half-breeds — French 
and Indian — were engaged to accompany them, to 
whose party a Chipeway woman was soon added. 
With these the expedition left the fort the latter 
part of July, 1820, in three boats, the crews join- 
ing as they paddled off in a lively boat song. At 
one of their early stopping-places they secured 
two interpreters, and the valuable services of a 
Mr. Wentzel, an agent of the fur company, who 
was to manage the Canadians of the expedition — 
no light task — and the Indians whom they might 
meet, he being experienced in both branches of 
service. 

An Indian chief by the name of Akaitcho, and 
several of his men, joined them soon, and were use- 
ful as hunters. All went well for awhile, the dis- 
coverers making good progress northward. Deer 
were plenty, and the hunters were successful in 
getting a supply from their herds, and securing 
other game. But as they went north the deer dis- 
appeared, and their provisions were not abundant. 
The Canadians became discontented on short 
rations, and threatened rebellion. This feeling 
Franklin at once checked by stringent discipline. 
But the whole party were soon brought to a stand. 
They built huts, and went into winter-quarters, 



Down the Coppermine. 109 

calling the place Fort Enterprise. They had 
traveled five hundred and fifty miles since leaving 
Fort Chipeway, making over fifteen hundred 
miles since the commencement of the year, and 
twenty-two hundred since leaving York Factory. 

When established in his winter-quarters, Frank- 
lin planned a journey to the head-waters of the 
Coppermine. He declared his desire of assuming 
all the risk of an immediate descent to the sea, 
even, and inquired of the chief Akaitcho what he 
thought of it. "Well," he replied, after using 
all the argument occurring to him, " I have said 
every thing I can urge to dissuade you from going 
on this service, on which it seems you wish to 
sacrifice your lives as well as the Indians who 
might attend you ; however, if after all I have 
said you are determined to go, some of my young 
men shall join the party, because it shall not be 
said that we permitted you to die alone, after hav- 
ing brought you hither; but from the moment 
they embark in the canoes, I and their relatives 
shall mourn them as dead." 

Thus, no doubt, wisely counseled, Franklin gave 
up the idea of reaching the sea, but he sent off 
Hood and Back, with a few Canadians, in a canoe, 
to ascertain the distance to the Coppermine River, 
while he and Dr. Richardson started afoot for the 
same purpose. After much suffering from great 
exposures and insufficient food, both parties were 
glad to get back to Fort Enterprise. 

It was soon apparent that Franklin's large party 
could not live on the resources of the vicinity, 



no Arctic Heroes. 

and have provisions enough for the voyage to the 
sea. In this emergency Back volunteered to 
return to Fort Chipeway and hurry along sup- 
plies, which were to come from the Cumberland 
House. This most daring proposition was ac- 
cepted, and Mr. Wentzel, two Canadians, and two 
Indians, with their wives, agreed to go with him. 
This party set out October 18. Wentzel, on 
reaching Fort Providence, returned, taking two 
Esquimo guides with him. Back and the Cana- 
dians and Indians suffered greatly as they pushed 
forward, Being nearly starved, one of the women 
cut a hole in the ice and caught a fine pike, and 
gave it all to the white men, not one of the In- 
dians being willing to eat a morsel of it. On 
being asked why, they replied: " There will not 
be enough for us all, and we are accustomed to 
starvation, but you are not." 

At one time while crossing on the ice a narrow 
arm of Slave Lake he fell through. Though the 
cold was intense, he escaped unhurt. On another 
occasion while crossing a sheet of ice over deep 
water it began to give way ; he increased his 
speed, the ice bending beneath his feet, and he 
had a long race for life, not daring to stop until 
he reached the shore. The party had no better 
lodging- place than a camp in the woods, and 
Back had for a covering only a blanket and deer 
skin, while the thermometer was often forty de- 
grees below zero, and once fifty-seven below. 
Sometimes they were two or three days without 
any food, and not unfrequently on short allow* 



Down the Coppermine. 1 1 1 

ance. We shall not wonder, then, at the following 
statement : " One of our men caught a fish one 
day, which with some moss scraped from a rock 
made us a tolerable supper. While we were eat- 
ing it I perceived one of the women busily scrap- 
ing an old skin, with the contents of which her 
husband presented us. This consisted of pounded 
meat and fat, but a greater proportion of Indian 
and deer hair than either. It was eaten by us, 
after three days' privation, as a great luxury." 

It was under such circumstances that Back 
made the whole journey to Fort Chipeway and 
back on foot, much of the time on snow-shoes, 
traveling in all eleven hundred and four miles. 
He was absent five months, but returned safely, 
probably saving the expedition by bringing in 
timely supplies. No more heroic act is on record, 
nor one exhibiting greater power of physical en- 
durance. Even the Indian women must have 
conceded that this white man could starve and 
walk with the best of the Indians. During the 
five months of Back's absence, the party at Fort 
Enterprise had no small fight with cold and hun- 
ger. Fish were caught until the fifth of Novem- 
ber, and afforded a timely supply of food. After 
that they were sometimes short of necessary sus- 
tenance. The cold in the mean time froze the 
trees to their very centers. So hard were they 
that in attempting to cut them they spoiled their 
axes, so that by the end of December only one 
was fit to use. This embarrassed them in getting 
fuel for their fires, 



ii2 Arctic Heroes. 

The chief of his men were off much of the 
time on hunting excursions, while the people in 
the fort were anxiously waiting the result. 

It is pleasant to state that, under these circum- 
stances, the Sabbath was strictly kept as God's 
day, Divine service was regularly performed ; the 
wood of the day was laid in on Saturday, and all 
secular labor, not a necessity, was omitted. The 
Canadians attended, though Roman Catholics ; 
not understanding English perfectly, the Lord's 
Prayer and the Apostles' Creed were read to them 
in French. 

Each day they had two cups of tea without 
sugar, and on Sunday they broke the monotony by 
taking one cup of chocolate instead. 

Akaitcho had little success in hunting, and the 
number of his followers who hung about the fort 
expecting to be fed had increased to forty; he 
was at last persuaded to take them and leave. 
He insisted, however, on leaving behind, to be sup- 
ported by the discoverers, several women, among 
whom was his wife and daughter. The daughter, 
Green Stocking, was esteemed very beautiful, and 
had been twice married, though only sixteen years 
old. Her mother now wished her to remain with 
her, and so she was quite annoyed when Mr. Hood 
took her portrait, for she said :— 

" The Great Chief of the pale faces may send 
and take her to be his wife." 

Various expedients were devised to occupy the 
minds of the party in the long ten months' im- 
prisonment, The officers were, of course, much 



Down the Coppermine. 113 

employed with their journals and scientific observ- 
ations. In the evening all joined in athletic and 
other games in a large hall. Hepburn became 
proficient in making soap and candles. The Ca- 
nadians had a whim that it was a mysterious oper- 
ation, and that its success was hindered if a woman 
approached the kettle. So Hepburn was rid of 
female intermeddlers at least, though the women 
got the best of it by being spared the heavy labor. 

The new year, 1821, came in rather gloomily. 
The English tried to be merry, but the heart will 
be heavy on one scanty meal a day. In this state 
of things an ice-covered Canadian, sent ahead to 
herald Back's coming, cheered them with packages 
of letters from England and the news of approach- 
ing provisions. With spring the deer returned, 
and the hunt was rewarded with game. 

They now made preparations for the journey to 
the Coppermine and the voyage on its waters to 
the sea. Their Indian chief promised to stock 
Fort Enterprise with provisions by the first of 
September for their use should they return that 
way. 

On the 4th of June a party, under Dr. Richard- 
son, started ahead, and Franklin followed soon ' 
after. The journey of nearly a month to the Cop- 
permine was made one of great fatigue by heavy 
portages and scanty daily food. They all, how- 
ever, safely embarked on the river. 

For awhile their Indian chief and his followers 
accompanied them, making themselves useful by 
hunting excursions along the shore. Dr. Richard- 



ii4 Arctic Heroes. 

• 
son keenly observed the shore as they passed for 

objects of scientific interest. He was surprised at 
the few fur-bearing animals in all their travels. 
The Indians had made so reckless a slaughter of 
them that they were nearly exterminated, so that 
but few beavers even were seen. He records in 
connection with this statement the following inci- 
dent : One day an Englishman was out hunting 
this interesting creature. Soon he caught sight 
of five young beavers at play on a floating log. 
They were having an exciting frolic, in leaping 
upon the log, then pushing each other off, and 
scampering over their little play-ground. The 
sportsman crept softly up, sheltered by the bushes. 
As he raised his- gun to fire, their innocent expres- 
sion of face, and child-like affection and confi- 
dence, so reminded him of the children he had left 
at home, that he dropped at once his gun and a 
tear, and left them unharmed. 

As the expedition approached the sea they 
came into the country of the Esquimo, the dead- 
ly enemies of the Indians. Franklin suggested to 
Akaitcho that it was a good time to make a treaty 
of peace. This he consented to do, but showed 
great fears the nearer he came to his enemies. 
On the other hand, the Esquimo fled the moment 
they saw the strangers. Finally, Akaitcho re- 
fused to go further, and returned to Fort Enter- 
prise with his men, promising to meet Franklin's 
party there. The next day Mr. Wentzel and four 
Canadians were sent back to Slave Lake to for- 
ward dispatches to England, and to see that the 



Down the Coppermine, 115 

Indians were faithful to their engagement in refer- 
ence to a supply of provisions. 

Franklin was now in sight of the sea, and in the 
region of the musk-ox, several of which he killed. 
They had when attacked a singular, and for them- 
selves, an unfortunate habit. They at once hud- 
dled together, as if feeling a sense of safety in 
being screened from their enemy by one another. 

They arrived on the shore of the great Northern 
Oceans July 19, after a most painful and perilous 
journey of three hundred and thirty-four miles, 
one hundred and seventeen of which were made 
by dragging their canoes and stores overland. 

They now paddled along the coast with their 
frail canoes. The shore for awhile afforded good 
landing-places, so that they could encamp at 
night. But soon a steep and high rocky point, 
against which broken ice was piled, turned them 
further out to sea. Just then a violent storm 
arose, the thunder crashed, and their canoes were 
frightfully tossed by the sea. They were com- 
pelled to seek the nearest hiding-place. They 
found a few seal, which were too shy for their 
hunters, and some small deer, which fell into their 
hands. But the deepest gloom rested upon the 
encampment. The season of the severest arctic 
cold was setting in, and birds and beasts were 
leaving the desolate shore, while the men, whose 
courage had been remarkable, began to grow faint- 
hearted. Franklin saw that an immediate return 
was a necessity. He had followed the shore-line 
nearly six hundred miles. 



n6 Arctic Heroes. 

On their return voyage they went up a river 
they had passed a few days before, until they 
came to an impassable fall. Stopping here to 
make two small portable canoes of their two large 
ones, they started in as straight a line as possible 
for Fort Enterprise, one hundred and fifty miles dis- 
tant. Their suffering from cold and hunger soon 
became too shocking to be detailed. An idea of 
it may be formed from the fact that they ate the 
leather and raw hide of their old shoes. Too 
weak to carry any burdens, 'Dr. Richardson's 
scientific ^ specimens were thrown away, and, in 
spite of all remonstrance, the men abandoned 
the- canoes. In these dreadful hours of want 
Franklin devoutly says : " We looked with hum- 
ble confidence to the great Author and Giver 
of all good for the continuance of the support 
which had always been given to us at our greatest 
need." 

When they came to the Coppermine they were 
detained nine days in constructing a raft on which 
to cross. Richardson, with a heroic devotion to 
the interest of his companions, proposed to swim 
the Coppermine, and carry a line tied around his 
body by which the raft could be drawn safely 
across. In attempting to carry into effect this 
proposal he nearly reached the opposite side, 
when, exhausted by swimming and chilled by cold, 
he sank. His companions drew him back by the 
rope in almost a lifeless state. They immediately 
rolled him in a blanket and placed him before a 
fire, when he revived sufficiently to give directions 



Down the Coppermine, 117 

in further efforts for his recovery. It was many 
months before he entirely recovered. 

When twenty-four miles from Fort Enterprise, 
Hood's strength entirely failed. Dr. Richardson 
and Hepburn agreed to stay by him, and try to 
nurse him for further effort, while Franklin pressed 
on with the rest of the party. Before parting all 
united in prayer, thanking God for the recent 
rescue from imminent danger of one of their num- 
ber, and invoking Divine aid in further labor and 
peril. 

When Franklin had gone on some distance, 
three Canadians, and Michel, an Indian, turned 
back. The Indian reached Richardson's camp, 
but the others, as he reported, had perished by 
the way of hunger and cold ; but his conduct hav- 
ing been for some time strange, Hepburn ex- 
pressed to Richardson the opinion that Michel 
had murdered the Canadians. While these pain- 
ful thoughts were indulged, Michel shot Hood 
through the head when alone with him in the 
tent. Though the ball had plainly entered the 
back of its victim's head, Michel declared Hood 
had shot himself. The murderer was armed, and 
much stronger than the united strength of both 
white men, and used threatening language to 
them. In this awful state they lived for three 
days, the Indian watching every motion. But at 
last Richardson found an opportunity to save 
their own lives, and end the guilty career of the 
murderer by shooting him with a pistol. 

Franklin, on reaching Fort Enterprise, found 

■8 



ri8 Arctic Heroes. 

neither food nor their promising friend, Akaitcho. 
Back had been there, and left a note saying he had 
gone after the chief, and, if need be, should push 
on to the next fort and hurry up supplies. After 
eighteen days of terrible suffering at the fort, in 
which many of the men died of starvation, Richard- 
son and Hepburn dragged their emaciated forms 
into the presence of their companions. The re- 
united explorers shocked each other by their ghost- 
ly faces and sepulchral voices. Another week of 
starvation passed, in which two more Canadians 
died. The Englishmen, in all their weakness, 
never omitted their morning and evening religious 
service. Spending most of the day lying on the 
hard floor, for they had no beds, the one most 
able would read from God's Word comforting 
promises, and from " Bickersteth's Scripture 
Helps. " There was a melancholy interest at- 
tached to the latter. It was given them by a 
pious lady before they left London, and was in 
poor Hood's hands when he was shot. How 
sweet the thought to his friends that some " Script- 
ure Help " occupied his last earthly thoughts. 

On the 7th of November three Indian mes- 
sengers arrived from the ever-faithful and indom- 
itable Back with supplies. These Indians not only 
brought food to the sufferers, but nursed them 
with untiring devotion, and conducted them slow- 
ly and cautiously to a place appointed by Back. 
Here were sledges and dogs and the comforts of 
the early days of their explorations, and by easy 
stages, stopping some months at Fort Chipeway, 



Down the Coppermine. 119 

they reached York Factory in July, 1822, after 
an absence of three years, into which had been 
crowded many life-times of suffering, and during 
which they had traveled five thousand five hun- 
dred and fifty miles ! 

When they reached England honors and con- 
gratulations awaited them. Franklin had been 
made captain, Hood and Back lieutenants, and a 
post of honor, pay and comfort had been provided 
for Hepburn in the navy-yard. 



120 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER XII. 

A CHEERFUL ARCTIC WINTER. 

IN May, 1821, while Franklin was in the midst 
of his overland expedition, of which we have 
just given an account, his friend Parry commenced 
his second voyage. It was hoped, as before, that 
they would find the north-west passage and meet. 

We left Parry, on his return from Lancaster 
Sound, in the church with his officers and men, 
giving thanks to God for his guidance and preserv- 
ing care. We shall see him putting his face again 
toward the icy regions, in the same devout spirit. 

The flag-ship, this time, commanded by Parry, 
was the "Fury;!' his second in command, Lieut. 
Lyon, took charge of the " Hecla. w The ships 
fortunately possessed about the same capacity for 
sailing, which kept them together. Many of the 
officers and men of the first expedition were in 
this, and the utmost harmony prevailed. 

An incident occurred, as the ships were sailing 
down the Thames, of a sad character, but bring- 
ing out the excellent Christian spirit of the com- 
mander. There was on board the " Fury " an old 
seaman by the name of John Gordon, a tall, well- 
proportioned man of great strength and activity. 
In the commencement of the former voyage he 
was like many sailors, rough, ready, profane, and 



A Cheerful Arctic Winter. 121 

coarse. But during the long ice-imprisonment at 
Melville Island, under the religious instruction of 
his commander, he was born of the Spirit. His 
Christian influence on shipboard promised now to 
be of the most positive character. But in attempt- 
ing to throw a kedge-anchor from a boat the line 
attached to it became entangled round his body, 
jerked him overboard, and drowned him. 

Parry, in writing to his parents soon after this, 
says : " I can safely say I never felt so strongly the 
vanity, uncertainty, and the comparative unimpor- 
tance of every thing this world can give, and the 
paramount necessity of a preparation for another 
and a better life, than this." 

No other incident worthy of note occurred to 
the discoverers until their arrival at the mouth of 
Hudson Strait. Here a supply transport, the 
" Nautilus," which came with them thus far, re- 
turned home with the last news. 

Let the reader now turn to a good map of North 
America. He will see that Parry's first voyage 
was pfast this strait, through Davis Strait and 
Baffin Bay to Lancaster Sound, then due west to 
Melville Island. Now he proposed to go west, 
through Hudson Strait to Southampton Island, 
and then to work his way north through unexplored 
waters to the Polar Sea. It was a bold plan, and 
we shall see how bravely it was prosecuted. 

The ships were soon enveloped in fogs. When 
these lifted they revealed a barren shore, drip- 
ping with melting ice, hills covered with snow, 
and whole fleets of icebergs, one counting fifty- 



122 Arctic Heroes. 

four. A single berg, which attracted special atten- 
tion, rose two hundred and fifty-eight feet above 
the sea. These crystal islands were no welcome 
sights to the strangers. When they ran a-tilt 
against each other, as they often did without warn- 
ing, it would be neither pleasant nor safe to be 
between them. There was another performance 
which the bergs fancied, but the sailors did not ; 
they occasionally launched into the sea a large part 
of one of their sides ; this destroyed their balance, 
and they immediately turned something like a 
somersault. As the ships must of necessity some- 
times go quite near the bergs, as there was never 
any advertisement when this performance would 
come off, and as it was attended by a great com- 
motion in the sea, the whole thing was decidedly 
disagreeable. 

They reached, through much toil, the south- 
east shore of Southampton Island ; the next point 
at which they aimed was Repulse Bay, the most 
northern yet known water in this direction, lying 
a little west of the extreme north of this 'island. 
They pressed on up the nearest — the west — side, 
though the round-about way on the east side of 
the island was known to be much clearer of ice. 
Though sometimes decidedly warned off by the Ice 
King, they did enter Repulse Bay and found clear 
sailing. Sending up a shout for the north-west 
passage, they spread their sails for due west. But 
it proved a short trip to the land boundaries in 
that direction. A little crest-fallen, they came out 
of the bay and sailed north, observing every little 



A Cheerful Arctic Winter. 123 

inlet which turned west. At the entrance of one 
of these, which they named Lyon Inlet, after 
the second officer in command, they found a small 
island. As the season for further navigation was 
ended they cut a canal in the ice to the southern 
shore of this island, which they called Winter 
Island, and drew up their ships into winter- 
quarters. 

They were better prepared with provisions, 
means of warming the vessels, and comforts every 
way, tham on the first voyage. Once adjusted in 
their outward arrangements to their situation, 
Parry set in operation the means to interest and 
profit his men, and so to make them contented and 
happy. A thoughtful Christian lady had put on 
board a large and well-constructed magic lantern. 
This was set up, and afforded much amusement. 
The officers formed themselves into a musical 
band. Parry himself joined, as he claimed to be 
" a pretty tolerable " performer. After a little 
practice they treated the crews to free concerts. 
We presume their audience were delighted and 
not over critical. 

But the Christian commander aimed not at 
amusement only. The lower decks of both ships 
were cleared, and made inviting school-rooms. 
Here, several evenings in each week, the men were 
taught reading and writing. At Christmas sixteen 
well-written copies were handed to the teachers 
by sailors who when the school began could not 
write a line. It was said by the commander, with 
great satisfaction, u Though many came out with me 



124 Arctic Heroes. 

who did not know a letter, when we returned home 
there was not a man who could not read his Bible." 
The position of the ships was in waters never 
before visited by white men, but Esquimo were 
soon found to be there. They at first viewed the 
strangers at a distance with agitation and wonder. 
When invited nearer they came on, running, skip- 
ping, and laughing, being well-nigh beside them- 
selves with the strange things before them. But 
they were soon on easy terms with the sailors. 
The hand-organ and " fiddle " were put in opera- 
tion, making them wild with delight. They sung 
and danced in their way, uproarious the while with 
laughter, in which the strangers joined heartily. 
At one time the fiddler was sent out upon the ice, 
and " all hands " joined in the dance, savages and 
white men, officers and sailors, making a sight 
"both rare and comic. " The u figure" of the 
Esquimo consisted in stamping and jumping with 
all their strength. One young sailor, a fresh, ruddy 
fellow, excited the special attention of the Esquimo 
ladies. They patted him on the face, and danced 
about him in a ring. The natives were so excited 
generally that they became uproarious, cutting the 
most extraordinary capers, and acting as if they 
were drunk. One of their jokes was to come slyly 
up to the sailors, shout piercingly in one ear, and 
give the other a rousing slap, bursting at the same 
time into a loud laugh. The cook of the " Fury " 
was so fine a jumper that he was singled out for 
this kind of compliment. The poor fellow found 
his honors so uncomfortable that he had to flee to 



A Cheerful Arctic Winter. 125 

the ship to escape them. Parry says of himself: 
"While looking on I was sharply saluted in this 
manner, and, of course, was quite startled, to the 
great amusement of the bystanders." 

One of the natives, glorying in his superior 
strength, and having thrown several of his coun- 
trymen in wrestling trials, tried his muscles on 
one of the officers. The officer was a strong man 
and skilled withal in the game, so that the Esqui- 
mo soon came in contact with the ice rather vio- 
lently, at which the whole company set up a pro- 
voking laugh. But the vanquished champion, 
with admirable good sense, though rubbing his 
shins for pain, joined heartily in the merriment. 

The same officer appointed himself teacher " of 
polite accomplishments. " He took several Es- 
quimo women and taught them to bow, courtesy, 
shake hands, turn their toes out, and put on draw- 
ing-room airs generally, master and pupils pre- 
serving the while the most becoming sobriety. 

But the Esquimo had an eye to trade as well as 
fun. One day a company of their women came 
on board and sought the officers. As the ther- 
mometer was twenty degrees below zero, the white 
men were not surprised that their visitors were 
unusually well burdened with fur clothing; but 
their modesty was for a moment shocked when 
they began to undress in the open air. But they 
soon ascertained that the women had on several 
suits, the outer ones being intended for sale, they 
having put them on as a convenient way of get- 
ting their goods to market. 



126 Arctic Heroes. 

The Esquimo made loud protestations of hon- 
esty in their business visits, and we shall present 
some pleasing illustrations of a good claim being 
made to such professions. But exceptions would 
occur, and they were found to bear watching. 
One lady sold a single fur boot, but refused to sell 
the other though offered for it a good price. The 
zeal she showed in refusing naturally excited in 
the purchasers of fur boots " for ladies wear" a 
desire to obtain. But as the market was " tight " 
in this direction, the buyers rudely took the arti- 
cle by violence. It proved to be a valuable boot, 
containing two silver spoons and a pewter plate. 
The lady thief laughed heartily at the incident 
as a good joke, being sorry apparently only that 
she had not succeeded in getting off with her 
booty. 

Soon after the visit of the Esquimo the ex- 
plorers saw for the first time a village on the near 
shore, of snow huts. It burst upon them like 
stage scenery behind a suddenly drawn curtain. 
All wondered that not even the sharp look-out 
from the crow's nest had seen it before. But the 
Esquimo explained the mystery by putting one 
up in a few hours. They were constructed of 
smoothly cut blocks of snow, so adjusted as to 
make an architectural dome, the key-block going 
nicely into its place. It was entered by a hole at 
the side, into which a long tunnel was fitted. All 
who entered must get down upon their knees and 
creep through this tunnel, which was fastened up 
on the inside, when necessary, with a block of ice. 



A Cheerful Arctic Winter. 127 

Inside there was a raised platform of snow around 
the sides. Upon this skins were thrown, making 
the sleeping-place for all the inmates. A hole was 
left in the top for ventilation, into which, when 
they wanted the cold shut out, they fitted a piece 
of clear ice. This answered for a window. A 
large bone was fixed across the ceiling, to which 
they hung a stone lamp. Seal oil and various 
kinds of fat were burned in this, affording a fire 
for all purposes. These simple people seem to 
build their homes by a kind of instinct, like the 
beaver, and when not in contact with ^a higher 
civilization, the same arrangement passes from 
father to son, essentially unchanged for genera- 
tions. 

Parry on a visit to one of the huts purchased 
the stone lamp of the housekeeper. She took it 
down, emptied out the oil, and wiped it out with 
a part of her dress. This not making it suffi- 
ciently clean to satisfy her tidy notion, she licked 
it out with her tongue. 

Among the visitors to the ships was a woman of 
a very remarkable character. As her husband's 
name was Okotook, we will call her, in brief, 
Mrs. O., for her own name is hard to write or 
speak. Mrs. O. had a fine musical ear, and a 
soft, pleasant voice. She was expert with her 
needle, and neat and clean in all her work. She 
did not look at things new and wonderful to her 
with a vulgar stare, but was curious to know 
their use. Mrs. O. had another excellence still 
more wonderful for an Esquimo ; she would not 



128 Arctic Heroes. 

steal — at least, the strangers believed that she 
would not. Her honesty certainly shone in two 
or three incidents which are given in the narra- 
tive. Here is one. She had promised to cover 
for Parry a small model canoe, but as it was not 
done on time he charged her with a want of good 
faith. Her vehement gestures and face of injured 
innocence quite moved him. After a while an 
Esquimo came in with whom the canoe had 
been intrusted by Mrs. O. to bring it to the com- 
mander. She immediately charged him with the 
delinquency. Parry adds : " It is impossible for 
me to describe the quiet yet proud satisfaction 
displayed in her countenance in thus having 
cleared herself from a breach of promise.' ' 

Being well convinced of the superior intelli- 
gence of Mrs. O., it occurred to Parry that she 
might know something of the coast which he 
wished to explore. So he put paper and a pencil 
in her hand, and, with some difficulty, succeeded 
in making her understand what he desired. She 
began at once to fill sheet after sheet until she 
had filled a dozen with the outlines of the coast. 
The officers, who looked on with deep interest, 
saw her indicate the turn of the land to the west, 
giving a water communication in that direction. 
This chart was afterward proved to be essentially 
correct. 

Mrs. O. had a son, Toolooak, who inherited 
his mother's gifts and strong natural affection. 
He would sit in the cabin of the " Fury " hours 
together, with pencil and paper, absorbed in 



A Cheerful Arctic Winter. 129 

sketching. His particular delight was in drawing 
animals, of which he seemed never tired. 

Parry asked him one day if he would go to En- 
gland with him. 

" No ! " he replied promptly, repeating it with 
emphasis many times. " No ! If I should leave 
my father Okotook he would cry." 

Okotook was at one time sick. His wife im- 
mediately manifested the deepest concern, sitting 
by him for hours with her hair disheveled, refusing 
food and rest. The physician of the expedition 
gave him a dose of medicine. It was his first 
dose, and he took it with great fear and agitation. 
Taking the cup in one hand he extended the other 
to his wife, who grasped it with both of hers. She 
evidently expected some great catastrophe to fol- 
low. But Okotook recovered, and great in their 
estimation was the white man's medicine. 

Such is the remarkable picture given of Mrs. 
Okotook. But alas for the heathen ! Before part- 
ing with her she developed to the strangers unmis- 
takable traits of the savage. The reader will per- 
ceive more and more, as our narrative progresses, 
that the Esquimo, though having many amiable 
traits, and comparing favorably with any heathen 
on earth, are savages still, having but low moral 
sensibilities. How can it be otherwise since they 
see God so dimly. 

We will give only a few additional touches to 
our picture of Esquimo life and character before 
leaving Winter Island for further discoveries. 

Parry invited the belle of the tribe to sit for her 



130 Arctic Heroes. 

portrait, and when it was finished, he inquired of 
her and her husband what present he should make 
them for the favor. They both exclaimed, " A 
packet of tallow candles !" These being given, 
they immediately ate them ! The wick of one, in 
going down, slightly embarrassed the lady, and 
Parry politely drew it out of her throat. 

Commander Lyon invited an " intelligent " young 
Esquimo to dine with him. He was first in- 
structed in the etiquette of the white man's table, 
and shown how to use a knife and fork and napkin. 
After dining, he was directed to the toilet stand to 
wash. He manifested such delight with the piece 
of perfumed Windsor soap that Lyon gave it to 
him. He laughed his thanks, and ate it on the spot. 
We shall find in most of the Arctic voyages 
thrilling bear stories, some of them tragic, and 
others comic, but most of them having the matter- 
of-fact character of substantial meals to starving 
explorers. Here is a comic one. One of the 
Esquimo was busy in disengaging from his net a 
seal he had taken, when he felt a slap on his 
shoulder. Thinking it came from a companion, 
he continued to work. But a second slap caused 
him to look up, when, horrors ! a grim old bear 
sat on his haunches with uplifted paws and open 
mouth directly over him ; he seemed to say, " My 
good fellow, don't trouble yourself further about 
this seal ; I'll take it off your hands !" The imme- 
diate result was a healthy run by the Esquimo, 
and a good meal on seal's flesh by the bear. We 
cannot say that we think the transaction was ex« 



A Cheerful Arctic Winter, 131 

actly fair on the bear's part, but these things took 
place in a heathen land. 

The merry winter at Winter ' Island was not 
succeeded by an early spring nor a successful 
summer. Sickness came just before navigation 
could be resumed, and three men died. In July 
the expedition sailed up Fox Channel, and, after 
many failures, much delay, and several land ex- 
cursions, the ships got into a narrow lead of water, 
at first free from ice. It soon, however, presented 
a field of " soft ice," through which, for some time, 
they forced the ship by crowding on all sail. 
Parry had seen from a high point on shore to which 
he had climbed an open sea beyond this strait, 
and this, of course, inspired intense desire to push 
through. But, alas ! they soon ran against solid 
ice, where they remained for another winter. 
They named the place Igloolik. A second Arctic 
winter may be endured, but it seems impossible 
for it to be enjoyed. The third summer's toil did 
not yield great results, but Parry was sure the 
water he was in was either the Polar sea or an arm 
of it, though we may see by the map that he was 
not as near it by several degrees as when on his 
first voyage. So strong was his conviction that 
he had almost grasped success, that he proposed 
confidentially to Commander Lyon to spend a 
third winter in the Arctic ice. His plan was to 
send Lyon home in the " Hecla " with dispatches, 
and remain himself in the " Fury," and push north 
the following summer. He even prepared his dis- 
patches, saying to the home authorities that he 



132 Arctic Heroes. 

should undoubtedly come home by way of Kam- 
chatka. This was plucky, but human energy is 
nothing when opposed to the defiance of ice and 
cold. These sent the scurvy among the men of 
the " Fury" and " Hecla," and they turned their 
prows homeward, which they were glad to reach 
in October, 1823, having been gone three sum- 
mers and two winters. 



Arctic Revival Work. 133 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ARCTIC REVIVAL WORK. 

WE have found Captain Parry a pleasant and 
profitable guide in our excursions into the 
regions of cold, and as we are assured we shall not 
find his enthusiasm nor excellence of character 
diminished, we will follow him to the end of his 
career as an explorer. 

He remained at home only about six months 
after the close of his second voyage, and during a 
part of this time he was prostrate with sickness. 
In May, 1824, he sailed again with the " Fury " and 
11 Hecla," this time choosing the " Hecla " as his 
flag-ship, the " Fury" being commanded by Lieu- 
tenant Hoppner. Prince Regent Inlet was to be the 
waters through which the north-west passage was 
now to be sought. The reader will see it just 
north of Boothia Bay, near which he spent the last 
winter of his late voyage. To reach it, however, 
he proposed to take his first route through Lan- 
caster Sound. 

As the details of this are much like those of the 
other expeditions, we shall only dwell upon a few 
striking incidents. 

It was Sunday morning in Davis Strait. All 

were assembled for Divine service except those 

required to sail the ship ; now, as she often had 

done, bravely fighting the ice. Parry had nearly 

9 



134 Arctic Heroes. 

ended a sermon he was reading, when the quarter- 
master crept up to him with evident agitation, and 
whispered a few hurried words. The commander, 
without betraying any emotion, asked a few ques- 
tions in a low tone, and sent him back to his post 
of duty, continuing his readmg, as though nothing 
had happened. The sermon finished, the Divine 
blessing implored, he raised his hand and said :— 

" Now, my lads, all hands on deck — but mind, 
no bustle ! " 

The fog had cleared up during the service, and 
the ship was heading toward the land. The cap- 
tain, judging from what the quarter-master reported 
that there was time to finish the service, now took 
his place of command, and the ship was soon out 
of danger. 

u I knew we could trust our captain ! " ex- 
claimed one of the sailors, wiping a tear from his 
weather-beaten face. 

The vessels reached Regent Inlet in Septem- 
ber, and attempted to sail south. This was pre- 
cisely what they attempted to do in the same place 
on the first voyage in 1819, but were prevented 
doing by the ice ; they found now the same un- 
yielding barrier, and were forced into winter-quar- 
ters on the east side of the inlet, near its mouth. 
Here were no Esquimo and no animals, but plenty 
of cold, ice, and utter desolation. Besides, most 
of the men had experienced three Arctic winters, 
so that the " fun of the thing " was gone, but the 
awful silence of the long night, and the oppressive 
dreariness, remained. But how strange are God's 



Arctic Revival Work. 135 

ways ! and good as strange ! This dark winter was 
the occasion, to many of the men, of the coming 
into their hearts of the light which shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day ! Even to Captain Parry 
it commenced a new era of Christian experience. 
The fact may be thus briefly stated : — 

On his return from his last voyage he learned 
that, during his absence, his father had died. 
This deeply affected him, as his home ties had 
been of a remarkably strong character, and his af- 
fection for his father very intense. It created in 
him searching self-examination, and new aspira- 
tion in the Divine life. 

Fortunately for the further cultivation of this 
frame of mind, the purser of the " Hecla," a Mr. 
Hooper, was a man of deep experience in the spir- 
itual life, and of unceasing Christian activity. 
Between the captain, therefore, and his purser 
there sprung up a close Christian friendship, and 
many Arctic hours passed swiftly by while they 
were conversing of the higher Christian life. 

Parry commenced now a careful, thorough study 
of the New Testament, applying its truths to his 
own heart as he had never done. Thus seeking, 
he found the blessing of a greater measure of the 
Spirit. He says of the result : " ' The entrance 
of the word giveth light ; ' so it was in my experi- 
ence. " He speaks especially of his increased 
apprehension of Christ as received into the heart 
by faith, and as the only means of entrance into 
the " narrow way." 

Thus blessed in a Christian helper, and thus en- 



136 Arctic Heroes. 

larged in his own experience, his labors for the 
spiritual welfare of his men could but be attended 
with marked results. 

The schools, now having the zealous labors of 
Mr. Hooper, became at once so popular that all 
the men of both ships attended them. Parry says : 
" They made such a scene of quiet occupation as 
I never before witnessed on board a ship." 

Mr. Hooper's journal affords us the following 
glance at one of the Sunday evening meetings : 
" I have been this evening gratified beyond meas- 
ure by the conduct of my school. We assembled 
as usual, and Captain Parry read to us an excel- 
lent sermon. We then read over three or four 
times the second lesson of the day, and I ex- 
pounded it to the best of my ability. After this 
we went to prayers, and having closed, I wished 
them good-night as usual, when my friend John 
Darke, a seaman of the ' Hecla,' said he wished 
to say a few words. He then dropped upon his 
knees, and in a few simple but affecting words 
returned thanks for the blessings enjoyed by him- 
self and shipmates in a Christian captain and a 
Christian teacher, imploring the blessing of God 
upon Captain Parry and myself. After this he 
desired for himself and his shipmates to thank me 
for the trouble I had taken. The countenances 
of every one spoke the same thing, and showed 
that Darke had been put forward by them to utter 
these kind words." 

This Darke, some time after the return of the 
ship, acknowledged, in a letter to Hooper, that the 



Arctic Revival Work. 137 

instruction he received in the " Hecla " was the 
means " of saving his soul." 

Thus passed the winter. The spring was occu- 
pied in part by exploring parties in various direc- 
tions. It was not until July that the ships were 
afloat and the voyage renewed. But it was soon 
brought to a disastrous close. The " floes," great 
masses of ice, were in active operation, forced on 
by stormy currents and high winds. One of these 
seized both ships and tossed them upon the shore 
as if they had been its playthings. They were 
got off at high water, but the " Fury " was in a 
sinking condition. All hands worked at the 
pumps until they were exhausted in body and 
bewildered in mind. The " Hecla " came to her 
rescue, but she continued in a desperate condi- 
tion until finally she went ashore again a hopeless 
wreck. 

All hands were now piled into the " Hecla," 
leaving no room for additional stores from the 
"Fury." Thus situated there was no course left 
to the disappointed Parry but to return home. 
The season was yet early, the sea open southward, 
and it seemed to him like turning his back upon 
the long-sought prize. 

Though unsuccessful in the main object of his 
voyages, Parry had added, more than any other 
explorer, to the geographical knowledge of the 
polar regions. This was appreciated, and, even 
now, fresh honors were showered upon him. But 
he turned from these to let his new Christian light 
shine in active, self-denying labor for the salvation 



138 Arctic Heroes. 

of souls. From henceforth many were to know 
him as a faithful Christian, who would never have 
known him as the brave, successful navigator. 
This change, he says, made him the subject of 
many sneers ; but he could well afford to receive 
these unmoved, having the approbation of the 
good and the smile of his Master. 

While thus working for Christ, Parry married a 
daughter of Sir John Stanley, who seems to have 
entered into all his labors. 

But his enthusiasm for polar exploration was 
unabated. A sledge journey from Spitzbergen to 
the northern ice center was now all the talk. The 
suggestion is said to have come from Scoresby, 
the intelligent and brave captain of a whaler, 
whom we have met before. Parry and Franklin 
had conversed together concerning the proposal. 
So, early in the spring of 1827, Parry was sent in 
his well-tried " Hecla," with a picked crew, to 
make the bold experiment. 

Their departure from England was honored by 
a " flag raising " on board, by his wife, and by the 
presence and blessing of many friends. The ship 
touched at a port in Norway and took in eight 
reindeer and a supply of their moss provender. 
With these they expected to make long and rapid 
journeys over level if not smooth ice ; to this end 
they received lessons in their management and 
care from the Norwegians. 

Having^ reached a point a little north of Spitz- 
bergen, they committed the " Hecla "to her ice- 
prison and hoisted out their two boats, the " Eu- 



Arctic Revival Work. 139 

cleaver" and "Enterprise." These were each 
twenty feet long by seven wide ; they were fin- 
ished with a floor inside affording a good sleeping- 
place ; runners were so framed that the boats 
could be placed upright upon them ; a water-proof 
canvas covering was provided ; wheels and fix- 
tures to make a carriage of them were stowed 
away among the freight ; and the material and 
workmanship of all were of the best character. 

They were thus prepared to sail, slide along on 
runners, or trundle ahead on wheels. 

Disappointment and baffled plans are always 
in order in the icy regions. Instead of something 
like a plain, and a solid continent of ice, as other 
explorers had seen, or thought they saw, our voy- 
agers were confronted at the start by ugly hum- 
mocks — jagged piles of ice — and drifting floes. 
The reindeer could be of no use and they were 
left behind, probably as junks of frozen venison 
for future use. Having spent some weeks in short 
explorations, and in deferred hope of a better 
condition of traveling, the boat excursionists left 
the ship in the middle of June. There was at the 
moment an open, smooth sea, and they sailed 
away joyfully through eighty miles. Then came 
floes, small and separated by open spaces of water, 
so that now they traveled by alternately dragging 
the boats along the ice, and launching them for a 
sail. 

Parry adopted a novel method of dividing the 
working time ; they slept by day and journeyed by 
night. By this arrangement they avoided the 



140 Arctic Heroes. 

glare, which caused a troublesome snow blindness, 
and had the warmest part of the twenty-four 
hours for sleeping. It worked well. 

They arose in the early evening, attended to 
family prayers ; breakfasted on warm cocoa and 
biscuit, cooked by a fire of spirits of wine, their 
only fuel ; changed their dry sleeping furs and 
boots for the wet ones of the night before, and 
they were ready for a start. They made it a point 
to have dry clothes to sleep in, but did not mind 
drawing on a wet or frozen boot in the morning? 
for if it was dry, it was sure to be wet soon after 
starting. They stopped at midnight to dine, at 
daybreak they supped, chatted, said their prayers, 
and went to sleep to be awoke by the sound of a 
bugle in the evening. They tried hard to make 
the night pleasant and successful, and the day a 
time of sleep. 

But the explorers spent their strength for naught 
and labored in vain, for while they were toiling 
over the extended ice-rafts toward the north, these 
rafts were drifting south. Once, after five days 
of seeming good progress, the officers took an 
observation and ascertained that they had ad- 
vanced eight miles. Worse than this, they some- 
times tramped miles northward to find themselves 
farther south than when they started. This was 
a rough joke of the grim Ice King, who seemed to 
put his finger to his nose and say with a ghastly 
smile : " Beautiful progress ! you must persevere to 
the pole ! " But they did not, for having reached 
almost to the eighty-third degree of north latitude 



Arctic Revival Work. 141 

— farther in that direction than civilized man had 
ever before gone — they turned round. On the 
back trip they shot and ate bears, the rightful 
owners of the soil. But these natives were equally 
unscrupulous ; for the strangers, when they ar- 
rived at Table Island, where they had deposited 
supplies, ascertained that the white polars had 
eaten all they wanted, which was just the amount 
they found. 

The expedition arrived home safely in Septem- 
ber, and thus ended Sir Edward Parry's arctic 
experience. 



14 2 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER XV. 

LOST AND FOUND. 

WHILE Parry was making his third voyage 
in the north-west, and his sledge journey 
in the north-east, Franklin was on a second land 
expedition. He and his friend Richardson took 
the great Mackenzie River this time, and sailed 
down to its entrance into the Polar Sea. Here 
they separated, Franklin going west, hoping to 
reach Bering Strait, or, at least, Icy Cape, near 
the dividing line of the British and the Russian — 
now the United States— possessions ; Richardson 
going east to survey the coast to the Coppermine. 
Lieutenant Beechey, in the mean time, was sent 
in a ship to Bering Strait, to work his way east 
to Icy Cape and meet Franklin. The voyager 
from the Mackenzie did not quite reach Icy Cape, 
but Beechey 's boats passed it and were within one 
hundred and sixty miles of Franklin when insur- 
mountable barriers turned him back. The expe- 
ditions had essentially the same incidents as that 
we have narrated, only, having the advantage of 
their former experience, and having at the start a 
better outfit, their sufferings were far less. 

About ten years had passed away, filled with 
many stirring events relating to the arctic regions, 
since Captain John Ross's unfortunate return from 



Lost and Found. 143 

Lancaster Sound. His then subordinate officer, 
Parry, had earned in the time, and retired upon, 
his laurels. Ross, a really brave commander, 
chafed under the public censure imposed upon 
him. In fact, it. seemed harsh, and he had many 
sympathizing friends. They desired for him, as 
he desired for himself, an opportunity to retrieve 
his reputation. But the Government was out of 
breath with its hot haste to get to the north pole. 
Besides, whether their enterprises succeeded or 
failed, they cost great sums in gold and silver, 
and many lives. So, having tried Parry and 
Franklin, in whom the nation had unqualified con- 
fidence, and who had done much, they would not 
try one who had failed where he might have suc- 
ceeded. So Ross turned from the Government to 
a friend; that friend, in his mental distress, was 
Felix Booth, a wealthy merchant. He had been 
desirous for some years to send Ross to the arctic 
regions on the resources of his ample purse, but 
he would not do it because the Government had 
offered a hundred thousand dollars to any one 
who should discover the north-west passage. He 
would not be looked upon as seeking the golden 
bribe rather than honor and the public good. 
But when, in 1828,' the Government withdrew the 
offer, he set about the preparations of an explora- 
tion. He laid down for the expense eighty-five 
thousand dollars ; Ross himself added fifteen 
thousand more, and the material aid was supposed 
to be secured. But what expensive amusements 
these arctic journeys are ! This goodly sum, as 



144 Arctic Heroes. 

we shall see, purchased the means of only a small 
expedition. 

The " Victory," a Liverpool merchant-ship, was 

bought, and sent into the dock to have her hull 
toned up with the best of oak and iron for the 
arctic fight. She was also adjusted to a steam- 
engine. The steam-engine was an infant at this 
time ; it was, therefore, expecting too much of it 
to suppose it could withstand such terrible foes as 
those found at the extreme north. 

On the 23d of Ma}', 1829, the "Victory" 
steamed down the Thames ; but her engine broke 

k down, and she paused at the Isle of Man for re- 
pairs. She was again delayed by an accident to 
her engineer. A supply-vessel, the "John," had 
been employed to go with them to the mouth, or 
thereabouts, of Prince Regent Inlet, and having 
deposited for them her cargo of stores, to scud 
home before the ice fetters were thrown around 
it. But these delays caused her crew to see an 
arctic winter as one of the contingencies quite too 
likely to happen, and they flatly refused to go. So 
Ross sailed with only the " Victory " and a small 
cargo of supplies, less than he expected. 

Science of our day, with its ocean-steamers of 
wonderful capacity, may, perhaps, laugh at the 
" Victory's " steam-engine. When fairly at sea it 
kept the captain and other officers up to aid the 
engineer to keep its rickety joints together. The 
sailors had to turn out at night to blow the bellows 
to keep up steam, and to gather ice for the boiler. 
We hope Jack didn't swear profanely at this new 



Lost and Found. 145 

mode of sailing ! We know he did a better thing ; 
at the welcome orders from the quarter-deck he 
pitched the troublesome thing into the sea ! 

Having reached South Greenland, the " Victory " 
ran into a Danish port for the purchase of a further 
outfit for arctic winters. They were soon on 
friendly terms with the governor, the religious 
teacher, and the Christianized Esquimo. There 
was lying in the harbor the hull of a London 
vessel recently wrecked. Ross purchased her 
stores, and was thus fully provisioned ; this addi- 
tional supply probably saved the explorers from 
ultimate starvation. 

They found Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait 
nearly free from ice, and reached the beach 
in Prince Regent Inlet, on which the wreck of 
the " Fury " was left by Parry ; but nothing of it 
could be found. The tent-poles remained, and 
near them the casks, tightly sealed, of sugar, meat, 
flour, cocoa, and other provisions, left by Parry 
nearly four years before. All were in good order, 
although the bears had left evidence that they had 
tried upon the casks the strength of their teeth 
and paws. Here was another timely addition to 
their supplies ; there were twenty-three men to be 
fed, and had they then known the length of time 
they were to depend upon these provisions, they 
would have been even more thankful that bruin's 
teeth and claws had not opened the casks. 

They found the navigation favorable, so they 
did not stop long at Fury Beach, but cruised south 
on the western side of the inlet, passing through 



146 Arctic Heroes. 

a strait into a large gulf which Ross named after 
his patron, Boothia. Sailing on they reached its 
southern extremity, nearly opposite the Fury and 
Hecla Strait, where Parry had spent a winter during 
his second expedition. Here they found a good 
harbor, and seeing signs of the rapid approach of 
the winter prohibition of all activity of either ship 
or men, they prepared to spend the season's im- 
prisonment in it. They first cut for their vessel a 
canal, so as to bring her near the shore, involving 
a long and tedious work. The powder and many 
of the stores were then removed to a sheltered 
place on the land. To make their home in the ship 
warm and dry they resorted to several very ingen- 
ious Yankee-like contrivances. Covering their 
deck, first with snow two and a half feet thick, and 
stamping it down until it became as solid as ice, 
they then spread over it a dry sand from the shore, 
making something like a gravel -walk. They then 
banked up with snow the ship's sides, and roofed 
the deck over with canvas. 

The vapor of the cabins, instead of being allowed 
to condense, and thus keep every thing damp and 
cold, except at the expense of a great amount of 
fuel and a high temperature, was conducted 
through the upper deck into the open air by tubes. 
Over the mouth of these tubes iron-tanks were 
placed, the open side down. The tanks being in 
an atmosphere averaging many degrees below zero, 
the vapor as it reached them froze solid. This 
they cut out and carried below, thus not only keep- 
ing their apartments dry, but securing a supply of 



Lost and Found. 147 

fresh-water ice. The air necessary to make the 
fires burn was brought in copper tubes directly 
to the fire-place, and so warmed before it was dis- 
tributed through the cabin. Two anterooms were 
made, the outer one for the men's wet clothes. 

Their supply of provisions, on examination, was 
ascertained to be sufficient for two years, used 
liberally, and could be made to last three years. 
The health and spirits of the men were, therefore, 
kept up by three meals a day, and plenty to do. 

With these happy sufficiencies there was one 
fortunate lack ; only a small quantity of liquor re- 
mained. Ross, like a sensible man, though in this 
respect ahead of his age, declared on the spot that 
he believed that without it his men would endure 
the cold better, and be less likely to be attacked 
by their terrible enemy, the scurvy. Under the 
counsel of so good an adviser, the men cheer- 
fully and at once agreed to dispense entirely with 
their "grog," and reserve it for strictly medicinal 
purposes. 

Divine service was daily performed, the Sabbath 
regarded by the omission of unnecessary work, 
divine service for all, and a special service in the 
evening — a kind of Sunday-school — for the sailors. 
Every week-day evening the secular schools were 
in operation. 

Thus far Ross' expedition was a success. He 
had surveyed three hundred miles of hitherto un- 
discovered coast, and reached a point within two 
hundred and eighty miles of Franklin's furthest 
eastern journey from the mouth of the Coppermine. 



148 Arctic Heroes. 

As they had sailed along the coast they had ob- 
served traces of Esquimo, but seen none. Whales 
had fearlessly played about the ship, not yet taught 
to be shy by the deadly harpoon. 

Having become fairly settled, the men turned 
their attention to hunting. Bears and wolves 
were not plenty, but caused occasionally a healthy 
excitement. Foxes were more abundant, and 
were sometimes trapped, though the arctic fox has 
the cuteness of his relative of warmer climates in 
keeping out of harm's way. The seal-traps were 
more successful ; the seal oil and skins proved 
• very useful, and so would their flesh, if the ex- 
plorers had experienced the extreme hunger of 
many later visitors to those regions. 

Sea-fowl were quite plenty ; one species of gull, 
the kittiwake, attracted special attention by its rare 
beauty. Its bill was lemon-color, its plumage a 
blending of ash, black, and white, and its legs 
livid. 

Commander James Ross, a nephew of the cap- 
tain, who had accompanied his uncle, proved an 
expert hunter, and, in fact, every way an efficient 
officer. 

In January a report of the " Victory's " cannon 
brought to the explorers a welcome company of 
Esquimo. They were shy at first, but on the ap- 
proach of Captain Ross, they formed in a kind of 
military order, brandishing their spears and knives. 
The captain shouted some friendly words in their 
own language, which he had learned elsewhere, 
and they immediately sent back the kind saluta- 



Lost and Found. 149 

tion. Ross threw away his gun and repeated " Aja 
tima!" The Esquimo shouted "Aja tima," tossed 
aside their spears and knives, and were soon on 
excellent terms with the white faces. 

There were women and children among the 
visitors. The mothers generally carried their 
babies in a big fur hood which hung from the 
back of their neck ; but sometimes they adopted 
a mode of carrying these household treasures 
which is not usual, we think, even with the Esqui- 
mo — they tucked them away in their boots ! 

One of their young men was drawn on a sledge, 
he having but one leg; the other had been am- 
putated in the following savage way : The upper 
part of the leg was first bound tightly with strips 
of hide; the flesh of the lower part was then cut 
off with their dull, clumsy knives, and the bone 
was slipped into a hole in the ice and snapped 
off! We hope the doctor did not charge heavily 
for this kind of surgery ! The surgeon of the 
" Victory " kindly made the young man a wooden 
leg, on which he strutted about, with the most ex- 
travagant expressions of delight. 

When April 1830 came, the discoverers were 
astir ; some made a special business of hunting, 
game being now more abundant, and the necessity 
for fresh provisions more urgent ; others were off 
on exploring excursions, in two parties — one led •" 
by Captain Ross, and the other by Commander 
James Ross. The commander was the man of 
greater enterprise, and general knowledge ; he 
was wide awake in securing scientific as well as 
10 



150 Arctic Heroes. 

geographical knowledge. His excursions were es- 
pecially directed to finding a passage out of the 
gulf where they were, in a * westerly direction. 
But the most intelligent natives assured them that 
the only way into the sea beyond was farther 
north, meaning through Barrow Strait, already 
discovered by Parry. 

All of the excursions of the younger Ross were 
made with dog-sledges, and Esquimo as guides. 
After having been out with them several times, he 
and the surgeon visited their camp to get guides 
for further exploration. Instead of the usual friend- 
ly greeting, the men met them, armed with knives 
and spears, and with angry faces. One old man 
was especially excited, and rushed at the visitors 
with his spear, but was restrained by his son. The 
women and children huddled together, aside, evi- 
dently expecting a scene, and the men formed a 
line abreast, grasping their spears and knives. 
Ross could get no explanation of this show of 
a bloody fight, and affairs with the strangers were 
becoming critical. They had each a loaded gun, 
but they were reluctant to shoot down men who 
had been, up to this time, fast and valuable friends, 
and were even now evidently acting under some 
serious misunderstanding. But to prevent being 
sfabbed and overpowered, the officers brought 
their guns to their shoulders and their fingers to 
the locks. One look at the muzzle of the guns 
was happily quite enough for the timid foe. 
They, probably, had seen the lightning blazing 
from them, heard their thunder, and seen them 



Lost and Found. 151 

deal death to the wild beasts. They broke and 
ran like sheep. The women then approached 
with friendly signs, and Ross succeeded in get- 
ting this explanation" of the threatening incident : 
The old man, whose resentment was so intense, 
had just lost a son by the falling of a stone 
on his head. Their medicine man had attrib- 
uted the fatal accident to the witchcraft of the 
white faces ; therefore their braves were bent on 
revenge. 

Ross succeeded in restoring confidence, the 
frightened men came back, guides were readily 
obtained, and the explorers went on their way. 

The excursion, however, proved a sad one. 
Their provisions failed, and they were obliged to 
kill and eat seven of their nine dogs.. This resort 
is much like taking the wheels from a carriage for 
fuel when on a long journey. The men were 
longer in getting back, having to draw the sledges 
instead of riding, and when at last they reached 
the ship they were but skeleton men. 

Thus the summer wore away, and the " Vic- 
tory " was still bound with ice fetters. August 
came, promised them freedom and an open sea, 
broke its promise and departed. September 
stepped forward with melting sunbeams, loosened 
the bands of the imprisoned ship, and she sailed 
joyously from Felix Harbor, where she had spent 
eleven months ; but the breezes had only well 
filled the sails, and her prow felt its renewed 
power to cut through the waves, when she struck 
a rock! In breathless suspense all awaited the 



152 Arctic Heroes. 

result, when she swung off and started again, but 
only to ground in the sand, where she seemed in- 
clined to stay. Quickly as possible she was light- 
ened by removing the stores to the shore. With 
deep anxiety they watched the effect of the re- 
turning tide ; and when it was shouted, " She 
floats ! she floats ! " every heart bounded for joy. 

With all sails spread, they sailed away — four 
miles, and, night coming on, Captain Ross fastened 
his ship to an iceberg, as if he had not been ice- 
bound enough, and waited for the morning. The 
morning came, but not the sailing ; they were 
once more held firmly in the grip of the Ice King. 
Many laborious days were spent in sawing the 
thick, firm ice, and warping the ship through the 
canal thus made ; when reaching a comparatively 
sheltered place near their old quarters, they spent 
another winter. 

The only noticeable incident of this winter was 
the discovery by the scientific, younger Ross, of 
the long-sought " Western Magnetic Pole " — a 
spot where the needle of the compass dipped and 
stood still. The discoverer was in ecstasies, and 
thus records his feelings : " I leave tny readers to 
imagine my transports ; all my perils and fatigues 
were forgotten, and I felt as if I had nothing to do 
but to go home and be happy for the rest of my 
days." 

The explorers built as good a monument to 
mark the spot as the circumstances allowed, put- 
ting a sealed canister beneath it containing docu- 
ments relating to the discovery. Their feelings 



Lost and Found. 153 

prompted them to build a monument over it as 
high as an Egyptian pyramid. But, after all, later 
science has shown that this discovery was of no 
practical value. 

The second winter passed and the third sum- 
mer came, bringing great labor, much suffering 
from cold, and insufficient food, and constant 
" hope deferred." When in August they were 
under sail again, they made, as during the preced- 
ing year, a few miles only, and then were again 
frozen tight for a third winter. Three weeks of 
navigation in a year, and a progress of four miles, 
they wisely concluded would not pay, so they de- 
cided to take to the boats and sledges and make 
their escape the quickest and easiest way possible 
as soon as the third winter should be ended. 
Therefore when April, 1832, arrived, they began 
to move out of the " Victory " toward Fury Beach, 
a distance of one hundred and eighty miles in a 
direct line, and three hundred by the windings. 
The goods they needed to carry being many and 
heavy f and their strength small, they took light 
loads, carried them a short distance and then set 
them down to return for more, thus going over the 
same ground two or three times a day. The first 
month they made thirty miles in a direct line, but 
had traveled, including the repeated journeys and 
the windings to avoid hummocks, three hundred 
and twenty-nine miles. During this month ter- 
rific storms of wind had hurled the sleet into their 
faces and piled the snow in their path. 

They now made their last journey to the ship, 



154 Arctic Heroes. 

nailed her colors to the mast, and bade her 
farewell. 

When they reached a point near enough to 
Fury Beach, where, it will be recollected, Parry's 
ship " Fury " had been wrecked, and where there 
was now a deposit of boats and provisions, the main 
party halted, built a temporary shelter, and rested. 
Commander Ross soon pressed on, with a few 
picked men, to Fury Beach, to examine the con- 
dition of things and to return. The captain 
moved forward with the main body more slowly ; 
young Ross meeting them on his return with the 
good report that the store of provisions were in 
good order, and, though some of the boats had 
been washed away, enough remained for their pur- 
pose. On the first of July the whole party reached 
Fury Beach. Having now access to a larger stock 
of provisions, they ate hearty meals, rested, and re- 
cruited. They called their canvas-mansion Somer- 
set House. 

Having spent a month at this place, getting 
ready to man the boats for further progress to 
Baffin Bay through Barrow Strait, they bid adieu, 
as they hoped, to the Somerset House, But they 
only got well into Barrow Strait when they were 
driven back to the Somerset House to spend yet 
another winter. This fourth winter, amid arctic 
darkness, cold, and short provisions, was the most 
fearful of all ; but yet only one man died. 

All felt, when the next traveling season arrived^ 
that they must reach the waters of the whalers and 
be rescued by them, or perish, With this feeling 



Lost and Found. 155 

they had, by incredible labor and endurance, got 
out of Regent Inlet once more, passed Cape York, 
wound along the water lanes in the ice until they 
had reached Navy Board Inlet, which we may 
find on the map, about half way between Cape 
York and Baffin Bay. They drew their boats to 
land, pitched a tent ate their supper, went through 
with the Divine service, in which, we doubt not, 
they introduced the prayer: " Lord, preserve our 
lives, and bring us again to our homes and friends." 
At four in the morning the watch startled all by 
the thrilling shout, " A sail I a sail ! " 
- The boats were manned, and with all of their little 
strength, now stimulated to almost desperate exer- 
tions, they rowed out to sea, making every possible 
signal to attract attention. But the ship kept on 
her course, not seeing them, and was soon out of 
sight. A sullen despair, which precedes the fatal 
crisis, was settling down upon the crew, when 
Captain Ross shouted, what he scarcely dared be- 
lieve, " Another sail!" After a little pauae, and 
almost breathless suspense, he added: u Yes, she 
bears down upon us ; we are seen ! " and " we are 
saved ! " was soon added as the sail drew nearer. 
The wind subsiding, the ship lowered her boat, 
commanded by her mate. As he approached Ross 
he said inquiringly : — 

" You have lost your ship, sir ? " 

" Yes, we beg you would take us in. What is 
the name of your vessel ? " 

" The ' Isabella,' once commanded by Captain 
Ross." 



156 Arctic Heroes. 

" I am that Captain Ross, and these men are the 
crew of the 'Victory.' " 

" Impossible ! " was the quick reply. " Captain 
Ross has been dead these two years ! " 

But Ross was satisfied that he had the best in- 
formation on this point, and it was not difficult to 
satisfy the mate and his captain of the fact. 

When the facts were known on board the 
" Isabella " she received her old commander with 
a tumult of joy. When all were on board there 
followed a scene, says Captain Ross, so ludicrous 
that it drove for the moment all serious thoughts 
away. * All were in a frame of mind to be amused : 
'TEvery man was hungry and was to be fed ; all 
were ragged and were to be clothed ; ther.e 
was not one to whom washing was not indispens- 
able, nor one whose beard did not deprive him of 
all human semblance. All was to be done at once : 
it was shaving, washing, dressing, eating, all inter- 
mingled ; it was all the materials of each jumbled 
together, while in the midst of all there were in- 
terminable questions to be asked and answered on 
both sides — the adventures of the ' Victory/ our" 
own escapes, the politics of England, and the news, 
now to us four years old." 

But night came, and all was comparatively quiet/ 
The sick had been cared for, the hungry fed, the 
ragged clothed, the unwashed cleansed, and, of 
course, all — and they were many — of the despond- 
ing among the explorers comforted. The rescued 
tried to sleep, but the beds were too warm and 
comfortable. Ross says of himself that he had to 



Lost and Found, 159 

leave his berth for a harder place before he could 
sleep. 

The explorers arrived in London on the 19th 
of October, 1833, having been absent four years. 
Honors and emoluments were plentifully bestowed 
upon them. The officers were promoted, Captain 
Ross receiving a " knighthood," and his nephew a 
captaincy ; the sailors received double pay, and 
the Parliament, the next year, returned to Ross his 
fifteen thousand dollars, with an addition of ten 
thousand — the goodly sum of twenty-five thousand. 
His patron, Felix Boot>, they made Sir Felix. 

The shout of the nation seemed to be, The lost 
is found ! and they killed the fatted calf. 



i6o Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DOWN THE GREAT FISH RIVER. 

THE long absence of Capt. Ross excited great 
alarm in England. Though his expedition 
was one of private enterprise, and he had not been 
a favorite of the masses as an explorer, yet now 
that he was believed to be a suffering prisoner in 
the arctic ice, or already, with his men, a victim 
of cold and starvation, great and universal sympathy 
was felt. Men in high places of authority and in- 
fluence began to talk, in 1832, of sending an expe- 
dition in search of him. The government finally 
determined to do it. When Back, who was in 
Italy at the time, heard of this decision, he 
hastened home and was accepted as its commander. 
He will be recollected by the reader as a hero in 
the two land expeditions of Franklin. He was 
now expected to go over a part of the routes of 
those journeys, reach the Polar Sea through the 
Great Slave Lake and -the Great Fish River, then 
work his way east toward Prince Regent Inlet, 
over unknown land and waters, in hope to meet 
Ross or learn his fate. Such a journey was easily 
marked out on paper, and was very nice to talk 
about in the comfortable parlors of the" great men. 
It was just the enterprise, too, to inspire the en- 
thusiasm of the daring, skillful, and persistent Back, 



Down the Great Fish River. 161 

He left England February, 1833, with Dr. King, 
who went as surgeon and naturalist. They were 
honored and cheered forward as they passed 
through New York city, and sailed up the Hudson 
to Albany. At Montreal they added to their com- 
pany Canadians, four volunteers from the artillery 
service, and an old Indian boat-manager and guide 
by the name of Paul. 

In two canoes, Paul guiding the leading one, 
they shot down the St. Lawrence to the Ottawa, 
and then ascended that river in a north-westerly 
direction. There were many water-falls and rapids 
for them to pass, some enchantingly beautiful, others 
impressively grand, but all imposing exhausting 
labor upon the explorers. The canoes and their 
freight had to be carried overland round these de- 
scending waters, the goods often in little parcels, 
and so in frequent return trips, and the canoes lifted 
up precipitous rocks and through tangled forests. 

These water-falls are about as troublesome to 
the voyagers in descending the rivers as in ascend- 
ing, and much more dangerous. Back tells the 
following story of the experience of some Indian 
acquaintance which illustrates this danger : A party 
were approaching a landing-place from which they 
were to carry the canoe round a grand cataract. 
In order to reach the landing they were obliged to 
go round a point of land which extended into* the 
rapids, a short distance only from the edge of the 
falls. A strong oarsman stood in the bow ; another, 
erect also and watchful, stood in the stern. They 
reached the point, fearlessly struck out into the 



i62 Arctic Heroes. 

rushing current, and with a few vigorous strokes, 
which threw the spray high over their heads, came 
round under the lee of the land. The sheltered 
landing was nearly reached, the danger seemed 
past, and the oarsmen relaxed their vigilance. 
Suddenly an eddy swung the prow of the canoe 
round and it darted out into the current. Swift as 
an arrow, it shot toward the cataract until it seemed 
to hang over its very edge. But the Indians, ex- 
perienced in this kind of peril, were masters of the 
situation. They struck their paddles deep into 
the water, and with the desperate strength of men 
working for life they brought the canoe to a stand, 
and inch by inch moved off until the quiet waters 
of the landing were reached. They then landed 
on shore, drew up their canoe, threw themselves 
on the grass to rest, grunted their satisfaction, and 
cherished the recollection of the incident to relate 
around their camp-fires. 

But the perils of the rivers were not the only 
ones our explorers encountered. Their comfort 
was often destroyed and their lives put in jeopardy 
by myriads of sand-flies. They covered every 
exposed part of their persons with blood-thirsty 
rapacity. To brush them off was only to remove 
those which were already gorged, or in part filled, 
for those with keener appetites. For every one 
killed, thousands came to avenge his death. It 
was a conflict waged by the explorers in which 
they were sure to be beaten. The Indians threw 
themselves on the ground, and fairly roared with 
anguish. Back adds ;— 



Down the Great Fish River. 163 

" As we marched into the confined and suffocat- 
ing chasms, or waded through the close swamps, 
they rose in clouds, actually darkening the air. 
To see or to speak was equally difficult, for they 
rushed at every undefended part, and fixed their 
poisonous fangs in an instant. Our faces streamed 
with blood, as if leeches had been applied, and 
there was a burning and irritating pain, followed 
by immediate inflammation, producing giddiness, 
which almost drove us mad, and caused us to 
moan with pain and agony." 

Some of the Indians seemed to regard these 
tormentors with superstitious reverence. When 
Back at one time endeavored to smoke them out, 
an old Indian shook his head. "Bad," he mut- 
tered, " very bad ! The great white chief" — re- 
ferring to Franklin — "did not do so. He never 
killed a fly." 

" This," says Back, " was true of Franklin. He 
quietly blew the gorged insects from his hands, 
saying, ' The world is wide enough for both of 
us.' " 

The first most important stopping-place was 
Fort Chipeway, on the Athabasca Lake, where 
the reader has been several times with Franklin 
and others. This is distant from Montreal at 
least two thousand miles, the way they had trav- 
eled. It was now the middle of July, and they 
desired to push on, if possible, as far as the Great 
Fish River, flowing, as they believed, out of the 
Great Slave Lake into the sea. Their number 
had been increased, just before arriving at Fort 



164 Arctic Heroes, 

Chipeway, by a Mr. M'Leod, an old employd of 
the Hudson Bay Company, who brought along 
his wife and three children. A fine romantic 
journey for women and boys and girls did this 
exploring expedition afford ! It was after their 
manner of life, so we do not hear that they either 
loitered behind or fainted by-the way. 

Before starting from this point let us look at 
the company Back^had gathered about him, and 
at their "fixings." He says: "At my feet was a 
rolled bundle in oil cloth containing three blank- 
ets, called a bed ; near it a piece of dried buffalo, 
fancifully ornamented with long black hairs, which, 
alas ! no art can prevent from insinuating them- 
selves between the teeth as you laboriously masti- 
cate the tough, hard flesh ; then a tolerably clean 
napkin, spread, by way of a table-cloth, on a red 
piece of canvas, and supporting a tea-pot, some 
biscuits, and a salt-cellar; near this a tin plate; 
close by a square kind of a box or safe of the 
same material, rich with a pale, greasy hair, the 
produce of the colony at Red River; and the 
last, the far renowned pe7nm,ican, the best food of 
the country for expeditions such as ours. Behind 
me were two boxes containing astronomical instru- 
ments, and & sextant lying on the ground by a 
washing apparatus, a gun, an Indian shot-pouch, 
bags, basins, and an unhappy-looking japanned 
pot, whose sad bumps seemed to reproach me 
for many a bruise endured upon the rocks and 
portages. 

" My crew were not less motley than the tent. 



Down the Great Fish River. 165 

It consisted of Englishmen, Canadians, two metifs 
or half-breeds, and three Iroquois Indians. Babel 
could not produce a worse confusion of inhar- 
monious sounds." 

Having arrived at Fort Resolution, just south 
of the Great Slave Lake, Back took four of his 
crew to press on to the Great Fish River, while 
M'Leod came on with the rest, to some point on 
the north-east side of the lake, where he was to 
prepare winter-quarters. 

Back was successful in finding the outlet of the 
river from the lake, and sailed a few days on its 
waters. This Great Fish River now bears Back's 
own name. He was delighted with his success 
thus far. He seemed to see a triumphant voyage 
on its waters to the sea when, in the spring, he 
should renew his explorations. With these feel- 
ings he turned back to Fort Reliance, as he called 
the spot where M'Leod had prepared winter-quar- 
ters. 

Here he found not only his own company, but a 
starving troop of Indians who had come to hang 
about the camp and live upon its charity. He 
generously bade them welcome, though he feared 
a short supply of food ere he reached the sea. 

One day Back was taking some observations 
with his astronomical instruments. Several of the 
Indians looked on with puzzled and anxious ex- 
pressions of face, while they exchanged signifi- 
cant glances at each other, or muttered aside in 
low tones. They were evidently discussing the 
question of the probable use of the instruments. 



166 Arctic Heroes. 

At last they arrived at a conclusion quite satis- 
factory to themselves, but dangerous to the white 
stranger. The instruments were, they said, to 
raise the devil with, and they were, no doubt, 
the cause of the famine. Revenge, for such a 
calamity, was next in order in an Indian's mind. 
So Back's generous gifts of food came, in good 
time, to conciliate the fighting men. 

The cloud which this condition of things gath- 
ered was silver-lined by the coming of Back's 
old friend, the chief Akaitcho. He led off in 
successful hunts. He scorned the suspicions 
which the instruments had inspired in his follow- 
ers, and, in addressing Back, said: "The great 
chief trusts us, and it is better that ten Indians 
perish than that one white man perish through our 
negligence and breach of faith." 

As the winter progressed, the cold, the stinted 
supply of food, and the desolation which every- 
where prevailed, excited in the explorers a feeling 
of despondency. Even Back confesses that in 
spite of himself he at times felt his customary 
resolution falter. 

Such was the state of heart at the camp April 
23, made specially burdensome by a rumor that a 
favorite interpreter and guide of Back's former 
voyages had perished of hunger and cold in an 
attempt to visit him. While all were under these 
depressions a knock was heard at their cabin- 
door. Without waiting for the knock to be an- 
swered the stranger walked in and thrust a dis- 
patch into the captain's hands, saying : — 



Down the Great Fish River. 167 

" He returned, sir ! " 

" What ! Augustus ? " exclaimed Back. " Thank 
God ! " 

" Not Augustus, Captain Ross, sir; Captain 
Ross has returned ! " 

The news seemed too good to be true. But 
the dispatches told the story; they contained 
extracts from English papers affirming the joyous 
fact. Captain Back says : " In the fullness of our 
hearts we assembled together and humbly offered 
up our thanks to God for so wonderful a preserva- 
tion." 

The day was spent as a festival, and the gloom 
which had rested upon the camp was dissipated. 
Among the Indians who enlivened the camp 
by their presence was " Green Stockings," the 
"beauty " of her tribe, whom the reader may rec- 
ollect as appearing in Franklin's narrative. She 
was now accompanied by a group of children, 
one, a babe, hiding away in her hood. When she 
was accosted by . the pet name of her younger 
days she smiled, shook her head, and remarked, 
"I am an old woman now." But she was evi- 
dently pleased to have Back sketch her portrait. 

In June the explorers started for Great Fish 
River. Though the search for Ross was happily 
ended, the captain desired to add something to 
the world's knowledge of the shores of the Polar 
Sea. A boat thirty feet long had been built. 
This they put on runners, for it was a long jour- 
ney to the Fish River, through swamps and over 
lakes yet frozen. They reached it safely on the 
11 



168 Arctic Heroes. 

28th of June. Here their valuable friends, 
M'Leod and Akaitcho, bid them farewell. The 
chief spoke despondingly of their enterprise. He 
said : " Indian don't know this river, and can't 
help you if you get into trouble. Esquimo live 
by the shore and will say, i Peace, peace,' and 
strike you in the dark. I am afraid Akaitcho will 
never see the great chief again ! " Thus warned 
Back started, a company of ten persons in all 
composing the expedition, and floated down the 
river. It proved to be a river extremely winding, 
full of rapids, whose rushing waters were thrown 
into sheets of foam by the numerous bowlders, 
and cataracts whose roar was at times heard 
several miles away. Its banks through its entire 
length, five hundred miles, were without a tree. 
Every-where nature seemed to have written the 
warning words, Man is not invited into these 
regions! But the explorers sailed on without the 
invitation, and in spite of the warning. 

The half-breeds of the company were able 
canoe-men. They were born and trained in the 
midst of such wild scenes. Back says of one of 
them : — 

" He ran our rickety and shattered canoe down 
four successive rapids, which, but for his skill, 
would have whirled it and every body in it to 
certain destruction. Nothing could exceed the 
self-possession and good judgment with which he 
guided the frail tiling along the narrow line be- 
tween the high waves of the torrent and the re- 
turning eddy. A foot in either direction would 



Down the Great Fish River. 169 

have been fatal ; but with the most perfect ease, 
and, I may add, elegance and grace of action, his 
keen eye fixed upon the run, he kept her true to 
her course through all its rapid windings." 

At another time they passed five rapids in a dis- 
tance of three miles. They had scarcely taken 
breath on smoother sailing, before they were con- 
fronted by the most appalling one they had yet 
met with. The water, hemmed in by walls of ice, 
rushed through a narrow bed full of rocks. The 
Captain and Mr. King stepped ashore and mounted 
the high bank, while the half-breeds undertook 
the perilous voyage. Mr. King was farther down 
the stream than Back, and both were watching, 
with intense anxiety, the experiment. The lives 
of those ashore, as well as those in the canoe, 
were staked on its success. It shot safely, passed 
the captain, and was hid from his sight below 
Dr. King. The captain just then heard what 
sounded to his excited mind as a wild shriek ! He 
saw King throw up his gun at the same time and 
rush forward. With an agitation more intense 
than he often felt, he followed the doctor. Having 
reached a point from which he could look beyond 
the rapid, he was relieved and gladdened by the 
sight of the boat in a quiet bay, and the crew 
safely landed. It was their wild whoop of triumph 
that he had heard. 

On the 29th of July they came in sight of the 
highlands at the mouth of the river, and were soon 
on the shores of the chilling, frowning Arctic 
Sea. Less than two weeks' experience taught 



170 Arctic Heroes. 

them the impossibility of unvailing the secrets of 
its shores. On the sea, successive masses of 
broken ice barred their progress. On land, they 
sunk knee deep in a slush of ice and snow. For 
ten days they had not a spark of fire, and, of 
course, neither warm food nor dry garments. 
Back, being a sensible as well as a brave man, 
wisely turned his face homeward. He had found 
the river, during his five hundred miles' voyage, 
expanding into five large lakes, rushing through 
rapids and pouring down cataracts, eighty-three 
in all. In the return trip these eighty-three de- 
scents in the river were to be passed by " port- 
ages," that is, by carrying on land the boat and 
its freight, often lifting both up craggy precipices. 
The voyage would have terrified many explorers 
into imbecility and failure. Back and his men 
accomplished it safely. 

In September they went into winter-quarters at 
the old home at Fort Reliance, on Slave Lake. 
Here he found M'Leod and the faithful Akaitcho, 
who had made some most welcome preparations 
for their coming. Here, again, the hunt was be- 
gun, the schools put in operation, the Sabbath 
service observed, and the winter made as swift- 
footed as was possible to the slow-moving arctic 
months. It was the old experience of long, dark 
nights, cold, and dreariness. 

Back arrived in England in September, 1835, 
having been absent a little more than two years 
and seven months. 

He had not seen the North Pole, but his men 



Down the Great Fish River, 171 

had picked up on the shore of the Polar Sea a 
piece of drift-wood nine feet long, which they de- 
clared was a part of it. This may have satisfied 
the ambition of the " rank and file " in respect to 
arctic discovery, considering how much of peril 
and suffering it cost, but it did not satisfy their 
leader. The next year, 1836, he was off again in 
the ship " Terror." This time he was to take 
Parry's route through Hudson Strait to Fury and 
Hecla Strait, examine the lower part of Prince 
Regent Inlet, enter Repulse Bay, and by sledges 
or ships, or by both boats and sledges, find his 
way to the coast of the Polar Sea, which he left 
about eighteen months before. Said those who 
sent him : "You can easily do this in one season, 
and so escape the arctic winter." A nice little 
plan ! The scientific gentlemen at home would 
have done well, may be, at trying their hand at its 
execution. 

The first thing King Ice did, even before the 
" Terror " reached Fury and Hecla Strait, was to 
frown upon it from a berg three hundred feet 
high ; he then gave it a terrific shaking up in " a 
nip " between huge masses of ice. He next caught 
the ship in an icy cradle, gathered around her an 
immense floe, and rocked her about four months 
.at will. No quiet rest for the winter in a chosen 
harbor was allowed. He toyed with her through 
the long season, from September to the summer 
of the next year, with malicious humor ; now 
opening the floe and letting her down into the clear 
sea, then boxing her on one side with a crystal 



172 Arctic Heroes. 

block, "like the side of a house," and giving her 
a buffet on the other by " a huge wave of hum- 
mocks. " To vary the sport two floes were oc- 
casionally brought together, giving her agonizing 
" nips."* Finally, the " Terror," thoroughly ter- 
rified, was dismissed, the latter part of the summer 
of 1837, from his Ice Majesty's dominions, crippled 
and crestfallen. The profits of the expedition 
were a zero. But Back had done all that skill and 
courage could do, and he was rewarded by being 
made Sir George Back. He then rested from 
arctic labors. 

* See Frontispiece. 



Franklin Missing — Search Commenced. 173 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FRANKLIN MISSING : THE SEARCH COMMENCED. 

WE are about to commence a sad era in the 
history of arctic explorations, or rather an 
era having its commencement and stimulus in a 
melancholy event, yet in its exhibition of heroism, 
and in the outlay of treasures and men to secure 
the results sought, surpassing all other eras. We 
shall endeavor to give its most striking features. 

In 1844 Sir James C. Ross returned from the re- 
gions of the South Pole, having made a successful 
exploration in the ships " Erebus " and " Terror." 
The fever for more excursions to the North Pole 
broke out anew in England. These well-tried 
ships were docked, rejuvenated, equipped with all 
the skill which wealth could command and ex- 
perience suggest, and put in command of the 
veteran officer, Sir John Franklin. He hoisted his 
flag on the " Erebus," and gave the command of 
the " Terror " to Captain Richard Crozier, a com- 
panion of Ross in the recent Antartic voyage. 
All the persons composing the exploration were 
one. hundred and thirty-eight, every one tried, 
picked men. The transport " Daretto," under 
the command of Lieutenant Griffith, was laden 
with provisions, to be transferred to the ships in 
Davis Strait. 



/ 



174 Arctic Heroes. 

The instructions given to Sir John were some- 
what in detail, yet left large discretion to his 
judgment, as determined by circumstance. The 
substance of the suggestions of the home authori- 
ties were these : He was to proceed with energy 
and directness through Lancaster Sound, to or 
as near Melville Island as possible the first season. 
Then came the old command, to push on to 
Bering Strait — if he could. It was only nine hun- 
dred miles ! True, the greater part of that dis- 
tance had been navigated, and the track mapped 
out by different men, including Franklin himself, 
starting at different times and from various points, 
such as Bering Strait itself, the mouth of the 
Mackenzie, and of the Coppermine River. But 
for one expedition to make a continuous push 
through the whole distance was quite another 
thing. But it was assumed that he would get 
through somehow, if not by a direct westerly or 
south-westerly course, by one north-westerly, up 
Wellington Channel. Having reached Bering 
Strait, the rest of his instructions could be easily 
followed. He was to sail to the Sandwich Islands 
and Panama, and send a special messenger with 
the good news. 

All this planning was grandly comprehensive. 
It pleased Him by whom alone human devices 
come to pass to throw over the results, for many 
long, weary, and anxious years, a dark cloud. What 
appeared when it lifted we shall see. 

The expedition sailed on the 19th of May, 
1845. The " Daretto " gave the ships her supplies 



Franklin Missing — Search Commenced. 175 

after reaching Davis Strait, according to the pro- 
gramme^ and returned. The " Erebus " had five 
bullocks on board for fresh provisions in an emer- 
gency, and the whole stock of food was ample for 
three years. The explorers were seen on the 26th 
of July by the whaler " Prince of Wales," nearly 
in the middle of Baffin Bay, two hundred and 
ten miles from the entrance to Lancaster Sound, 
anchored to an iceberg, waiting the moving of 
the ice* Here the curtain drops. 

Suspense concerning the fate of Franklin had 
grown painfully intense in the fall of 1847. Two 
years had passed without a word of information. 
The English Government planned immediately 
three searching expeditions, and they were sent 
into active service with all the dispatch consistent 
with thorough preparation. The first was to sail 
•up the Pacific to Bering Strait and operate east- 
ernly. The second, under the eminent explorer 
Sir John Richardson, whom the reader has met 
before, was to go down the Mackenzie, and search 
along shore to the Coppermine. The third, un- 
der the popular J. C. Ross, was to penetrate Lan- 
caster Sound, and find and follow Franklin's route. 
This last was on a grand scale, consisting of two 
fine ships, the ''Enterprise " and "Investigator," 
each attended by small steam tow-boat " launches." 
All these were in operation in the early part of 
1848. In the early fall of that year rumors 
through the whalers reached the home authorities 
concerning the plans of Ross which alarmed them. 
They regarded them as desperately brave. They 



176 Arctic Heroes. 

at once sent the " North Star," supply ship, under 
the command of James Saunders, laden w*th pro- 
visions for Ross, and bearing specific orders. The 
" Star " was not to allow herself to be caught in 
the ice, but to return that season at all events, 
leaving at some well-known point her supplies if 
she did not find Ross. She did not overtake Ross, 
but did get caught and wintered in the ice. 

All these explorations closed unsuccessfully to- 
ward the end of 1849. 

The public mind was now continually stimu- 
lated in its interest concerning the lost ones. The 
veteran explorers — and they were many — as well 
as the veteran managers of explorations, came for- 
ward with their speculations and advice. Large 
rewards were promised, both by the Government 
and Lady Franklin, to excite the zeal of the 
whalers in making careful inquiry of the Esquimo, 
and in making diligent search along^the shores, 
while pursuing their calling. 

The Government, thus spurred on by its own 
desires and by public opinion, started three more 
expeditions in 1850. The first, in the tried ves- 
sels the " Enterprise " and " Navigator," sup- 
ported by small crafts, were this time to start on 
the immediate search at Bering Strait, inasmuch 
as they did not get through from the other end. 
The second, under Dr. Rae. an old officer, was to 
try the Mackenzie and shore route. The third, 
a naval expedition, was to make another effort by 
way of Lancaster Sound, through which Franklin 
was supposed to have passed. Before we notice 



Franklin Missing — Search Commenced. 177 

this squadron in detail, let us glance at certain 
non-official enterprises. 

There was an expedition under the command of 
Captain Penny, an energetic, experienced com- 
mander of a whale ship. It consisted of a staunch 
ship, the "Lady Franklin," and a clipper-brig, 
the "Sophia." This expedition was prompted 
and mostly paid for by the devoted wife of 
Franklin. 

In addition to Penny's vessels, Lady Franklin, 
out of her own purse, and with an exhaustive 
generosity, fitted out the "Prince Albert," a 
schooner-rigged craft of only ninety tons, but of 
faultless build. 

Another expedition, under the veteran Sir John 
Ross, was equipped by public subscription, the 
Hudson Bay Company paying twenty-five hundred 
dollars. She sailed in June, 1850, a little later 
than the other vessels. 

While England was thus stirring in the Chris- 
tian work of saving the lost, the United States was 
not an idle spectator. Her naval ships, the " Ad- 
vance " and " Rescue," we shall meet in the north- 
ern regions, and give them special notice in due 
time. These private enterprises were all destined 
for the regions beyond Lancaster Sound, and, as 
we shall see, met, and in a measure co-operated 
together. 

The English naval squadron, consisting of the 
sailing vessels "Resolute "and "Assistance," 
rigged as barks, and two screw steamers, the 
" Pioneer " and " Intrepid," formed a searching 



178 Arctic Heroes. 

expedition of peculiar interest. The steamers 
were tenders to the barks. Steam, as we have 
seen, had been tried before in the arctic service, 
but with no great success. In this case it was used 
on an ample scale, and with a skill and success 
resulting in part from the lessons of previous 
failures. 

Having taken a look through the other vessels, 
we will lastly examine the " Pioneer," and take up 
our quarters for the voyage in her. 

The " Resolute " was selected for the service 
because she was well built, and of the very best 
material. But a strong build for ordinary voyages 
was not considered sufficient for the boxing she 
was to receive in the regions of perpetual ice. 
She was strengthened with heavy timbers until 
her frame seemed the greater part of her. Ship 
architecture was sacrificed to ship endurance. 
Her bow became so broad that it resembled more 
that of a mud-scow than a sailing vessel, so that 
she pushed the water before her rather than sailed 
through it. An old " salt," who had been many 
times among the arctic floes and bergs, scorned 
the clumsy thing ^as he looked at her while she 
was in the dock-yard. " Lord, sir," he exclaimed, 
addressing his commanding officer, " you would 
think by the quantity of wood they are putting 
into them ships that the dock-yard maties be- 
lieved they could stop the Almighty from moving 
the floes in Baffin Bay ! Every pound of African 
oak they put into them the less likely they are to 
rise to pressure, and you must in the ice either 



Franklin Missing — Search Commenced. 1 79 

rise or sink. If the floe cannot pass through the 
ship it will pass over it." 

Internally the " Resolute " was arranged and 
equipped on the most generous scale for the safety 
and comfort of all on board. Hot air was distrib- 
uted through the cabins and between the decks 
by an original and ingenious contrivance. Double 
defenses were made against the arctic cold. 
Ample and convenient cooking apparatus and 
apartments were provided. The mess-room of 
the crew was not neglected, but made both com- 
fortable and inviting. A large captain's cabin 
gave him room for meetings of business, or social 
intercourse with the other officers ; and the gun- 
room answered for the officers when they met 
together for their meals. The whole force of the 
" Resolute," officers and crew, consisted of sixty 
men. No expense or pains were spared to make 
this vessel equal in adaptation to her mission to 
any one which had ever sailed, and the " As- 
sistance " was in every essential particular her 
equal. We have dwelt thus in detail on the de-* 
scription of the " Resolute " because of her mar- 
velous later history. The reader will not forget 
her. 

The propellers were each of four hundred tons 
burden, and were propelled by engines of sixty 
horse-power; they were rigged as three-masted 
schooners. Heavy extra planking was fastened 
securely to every part of both frame and decks, so 
that the sailors called them " bread-and-butter 
built." Their bows, made in a wedge form, were 



180 Arctic Heroes. 

almost solid on the inside with oak and iron. 
The screw, stern-post, and rudder might be bat- 
tered off by the ice, and yet the vessel made to 
swim. The internal accommodations were good, 
only that the heavy cargo of coal to drive the 
engines crowded Jack and the officers into close 
quarters. A sufficient quantity of this article was 
taken to enable them, with a consumption of 
seven tons a day, to tow the ships three thousand 
miles. If left without the burden of the sailing 
ship, they could steam five thousand miles. They 
carried about fifteen months' provisions. The 
crew of each steamer consisted of thirty men, 
all told. 

The whole squadron was considered very smart 
— both men and vessels — and the enterprise was 
undertaken in the spirit of men who counted on 
taking the prize. It left England in the middle 
of the spring of 1850. It was under the command 
of Captain Austen, whose flag-ship was the '* Reso- 
lute." Captain Ommaney commanded in the 
" Assistance," and Lieutenant Osborne in the " Pio- 
neer," with whom, as we have stated, we are to 
deal, and Lieutenant Kater in the " Intrepid." 
For the sake of directness of statement we will 
use the first person. 

On the 24th of June our squadron was in Baffin 
Bay, steaming north through an open sea, while 
the icebergs careered about us, some in solemn 
grandeur from their great size and compact make, 
and others almost ludicrous in their fantastic 
forms, etc. ; all mingled together, and occasionally 



Franklin Missing — Starch CommfMced. 1 8 1 

colliding in wild magnificence. " Hard a star- 
board ! Steady! Port! port!" was shouted by 
the officer in command, and we flew past some 
huge crystal island against which the angry bil- 
lows vainly dashed. The excitement was novel 
to some of us, and delightful to all. A storm soon 
came down upon us, yet we sped watchfully and 
fearlessly on : — 

" And now there came both mist and snow, 
And it grew wondrous cold ; 
And ice, mast high, came floating by 
As green as emerald. 

"Through the drifts the snowy cliffs 
Did send a dismal sheen ; 
Nor shapes of men or beasts we ken — 
The ice was all between. 

" With sloping masts and dripping prow, 
As who pursued with yell and blow, 
Still treads the shadow of his foe, 

And forward bends his head, 
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, 
And northward aye we fled." 

Having hauled in for the land, we touched at 
the Danish settlement of Upernavik. We were 
soon off again and fell in with some whalers, and 
sighted Captain Penny's expedition— the " Lady 
Franklin " and the " Sophia." A storm being " in 
the wind," we made fast to an iceberg. This is 
done by sinking a heavy iron hook in the berg, to 
which a cable is attached. This is a risky way 
of anchoring. It may happen that the first blow 



1 82 Arctic Heroes. 

that the sailor strikes, in order to settle the hook 
into the iceberg, rends the whole mass ; or the part 
on which he stands may shelve off, and he be 
precipitated with it into the sea; or if the spot 
selected has not been carefully chosen to avoid 
such an accident, an overhanging piece of ice 
may, at the first stroke of his crowbar, fall upon 
his. head. Even the ship itself may be injured 
by the disruption of the berg under these cir- 
cumstances. 

On this occasion we chose a berg one of whose 
sides sloped to the sea, having no overhanging 
points. The " Pioneer " and " Intrepid " were 
soon made fast to it, and we rode out the gale 
securely. 

On the first of July the welcome signal came 
from the flag-ship : " Take the ships in tow." 
With a sixteen-inch hawser we took the " Resolute " 
by the nose. We were in company with Captain 
Penny's ships and several whalemen, but we soon 
left them astern. We dodged the bergs, pushed 
into an opening of the ice here, and made one in 
looser ice there, making headway through the 
loose pack as only propellers could. We were in 
the midst of scattered islands, from some of which 
the boats of the whalers were getting great quan- 
tities of eggs. After having for some time pushed 
our way through some rotten ice six inches thick, 
we came to a narrow lead of open water near the 
land and made fast for the night. Some of us 
climbed to the highest point of the near land to 
enjoy the profound silence of an arctic night. Of 



Franklin Missing — Search Commenced. 183 

course our night was as the day, and we were rest- 
less and unable to sleep under the constant blaze 
of light. But birds and beasts had retired to rest 
with their wonted regularity, as if it was a night 
of darkness. A heavy bank of clouds about the 
sun and the subdued tints of the sky gave a 
pleasant quietude to the scene. Away westward, 
across Baffin Bay, the direction we would go, 
was ice, ice, ice. Now and then we could catch 
a glimpse of the windings of a narrow opening 
of clear sea. We will push through the windings 
on the morrow, we thought, and we shall see no 
more of the sailing vessels. But while we mused 
Penny's " Lady Franklin " and " Sophia " sped by. 
A breeze had sprung up, and the wide-awake 
Penny had spread his sails to it, and was beating 
the steamers. It would never do ! We hurried 
on board, and, having had only a two hours' instead 
of a night's halt, we took the " Resolute " in tow 
and pushed forward. So much for the spur of a 
good example ! The " Intrepid " followed, tugging 
the " Assistance." In the morning at seven o'clock 
we had passed Penny's squadron. After a tow of 
thirty hours a block of ice defied the butting of 
our sharp prows, and both steamers and the ships 
hauled up to convenient icebergs. The sea-fowl 
called loons were about us in countless numbers. 
Thousands could have been brought down by 
our guns if we had been disposed to devote 
ourselves for awhile to the sport. I climbed a 
small island near the " Pioneer." The only open- 
ing leading westward commenced astern of us. 
12 



184 Arctic Heroes. 

Into this the provoking Penny was already enter- 
ing, and was shooting ahead of our position. I 
amused myself in picking some anemones, pop- 
pies, and saxifras which grew in sheltered nooks. 
Though flowers of this rough arctic region, they 
possessed a delicate beauty. 

When our vessels stopped, Captain Osborne sent 
the captain of the forecastle, with a boat's crew, 
to a headland not far off to get a supply of loons. 
The boat returned the next morning without having 
shot a single fowl, though not a man had a charge 
of powder or shot left. Captain Osborne called 
for the commander of the boat, and inquired how 
he managed to fire away one pound of powder 
and four of small shot and not bring home a 
loon. Hanging his head, like a school-boy caught 
robbing his seat-mate's dinner-basket, he an- 
swered :— 

" If you please, sir, we fired it all into a bear ! " 

*' What ! " said the captain, " shot a bear with 
No. 4 shot! " 

" Yes, sir ; and if it hadn't have been for two or 
three who were afraid of him, we would have 
brought him aboard, too." 

Sending the bear-hunting forecastle officer about 
his business with a reprimand for disobeying or- 
ders, the captain learned afterward the following 
facts : The boat's company, in passing a small 
island, saw a bear watching for his dinner at a 
seal-hole. They at once agreed that to be the 
first to bring a bear home would immortalize both 
them and their ship. They immediately poured 



Franklin Missing — Search Commenced. 185 

into his broad sides showers of bird-shot ! It 
probably made him feel a little uncomfortable and 
considerably vexed, especially at being molested 
while pursuing an honest business — that of getting 
a needed meal. He growled, snapped his teeth, 
and trotted round the island. The valiant hunters^ 
followed him, giving him more and more bird-shot. 
Not liking to be pestered in this way, bruin plunged 
into the water and swam to a piece of broken ice. 
The heroic hunters followed, and gave him a brass 
button and the blade of a knife, and the like missiles, 
which, in the absence of balls, they had crammed 
into their guns. They " made him jump," as " Old 
Abbot," the officer of the forecastle, declared, and 
as he reached the ice he was bleeding and torn, 
though not very seriously injured, for a polar bear 
can stand quite a quantity of bird-shot, besides 
several buttons and knife-blades. Abbot was 
after him, and as the bear attempted to get on the 
floe the battle was renewed. Old Abbot wanted 
bruin's skin, and bruin desired to keep it; and, 
besides, began to give signs, by earnest fighting, 
that he considered the joke carried far enough. 
The knights of the small-shot and boat-hooks were 
glad to retreat with their own skins, leaving bruin 
master of the field and four pounds of lead. But 
Old Abbot declared in the forecastle talk, that if 
he had been courageously sustained by his men 
the bear might have been brought to the ship, 
tamed, harnessed to a sledge, and made to save 
" an awful sight of hard dragging." 

The reader must imagine us now, July 3, 1850, as 



1 86 Arctic Heroes. 

pushing up the eastern or Greenland side of Baffin 
Bay toward Cape York and Dudley Diggs, both 
of which may be easily found on the map. • Our 
object was to get into the open water generally 
found on its northern boundary, and so cross to 
the eastern side and get into Lancaster Sound. 

" The middle pack," as it was called, filled the 
center of the bay. Its eastern side was less fre- 
quently navigable than the western. 

We started in the morning through a narrow 
in-shore " lead." We were soon beset with " bars " 
of ice with holes of water between them. The 
" Pioneer" undertook to break through the bars 
with its sharp prow, and then to drag the " Resolute " 
after it. We put on a full head of steam, and then 
rushed at it furiously. The ice thus smashed was 
pushed astern by the men, and a clear channel 
given us for another effort. We run astern far 
enough to get a good headway, set the propeller in 
motion, and came upon the bar again with a con- 
cussion which caused our vessel to quiver like a 
struck bullock. Fragments of ice flew like the 
spray, and great rents were made in it, and large 
cakes were broken off. But getting these cakes out 
so as to make a clear channel for another drive was 
a task which needed double our number of men. 
These could not be spared for the present from 
the other vessels, so, before our brave boys could 
get them out, they froze solid again ! Not only so, 
but the icy debris about the " Pioneer " froze in 
the meantime, and the Frost King held us in his 
firm grip. Scores of strong men now came from 



Franklin Missing, 187 

the other vessels to help us. But it was too late ! 
Ice tools — saws, chisels, iron-pointed poles, claws, 
and lines — were of no avail. We were unwillingly 
" docked," and had only to make the best of it, 
and wait for the fickle arctic thaws, winds, and 
currents to come to our aid and set us free. 



1 88 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

STEAMING THROUGH ICE-FLOES. 

WE were. not disposed to improve the leisure 
of the "Pioneer's "confinement by repeat- 
ing old Abbot's experiment of hunting polar bears 
with bird shot. But the following incident, taken 
from Captain Osborne's journal, shows that our sport 
was not without its excitement and danger : — 

" A few birds flying about induced myself and 
some others to go out shooting, a foggy night 
promising to be favorable to our larders. The 
ice, however, was full of holes, and very decayed, 
in addition to which it was in rapid motion in 
many places from the action of wind and tide. 
The risk of such sporting was well evinced in my 
gallant friend M.'s case. He was on one side of a 
lane of water, and I on the other ; a bird called 
the burgomaster flew over his head to the sea- 
ward, and he started in the direction it had gone. 
I and another shouted to warn him of the ice be- 
ing in rapid motion and very thin. He halted for 
a moment and then ran on, leaping from piece to 
piece. The fog at this moment lifted a little, and 
most providentially so, for suddenly I saw M. 
make a leap and disappear. The ice had given 
way ! He soon rose but without his gun, and I 
then saw him scramble upon a piece of ice, and 



Steaming through Ice-Floes. 189 

on watching it, observed with a shudder that both 
he and it were drifting to the northward and 
away from us. Leaving my remaining companion 
to keep sight of M., and thus to point out the way 
on my return, I retraced my steps to the ' Pio- 
neer,' and, with a couple of men, a hand-line, and 
boarding pikes, started off in the direction M. 
was in. 

" I could tell my route pretty well by my com- 
panion's voice, which, in rich Milesian, was giving 
utterance to exclamations of the most original 
character : ' Keep up your courage, my boy ! 
Why don't you come back? Faith, I suppose it's 
water that wont let you ! There will be some 
one there directly ! Hay ! hay ! hay ! Don't be 
downhearted any way.' 

" I laughed as I ran. My party placed them- 
selves about ten yards apart, the last man carrying 
the line ready to heave in case of the leader 
breaking through. So weak was the ice that we 
had to keep at a sharp trot to prevent the weight 
of our bodies resting long on any one spot ; and 
when we sighted our friend M., on his little piece 
of firm ice, the natural exclamation of one of my 
men was : ' I wonder how he ever reached it, 
sir!' 

" M. assisted us to approach him by pointing 
out his own route, and by extending our line, and 
holding on to it, we at last got near enough to 
take him off the piece of detached ice on which 
he had providentially scrambled. 

u I never think of the occurrence without a 



igo Arctic Heroes. 

sickening sensation, mixed with a comic recollec- 
tion of my companion's ejaculations. " 

Our confinement was for only one day. Even be- 
fore our captain's return with his half-frozen friend 
M., the turn of the tide gave evidence that the ice 
about the vessel was loosening and drifting away. 
They did not arrive a minute too soon. At noon 
of the next day we had the ships in tow, tugging 
away to the north-west. The fleet of whale ships, 
with all sails spread, showed an ambition to be up 
with us. Penny's ships were still ahead. We 
soon sighted the Devil's Thumb, a cape making 
the southern boundary of Melville Bay. It was 
an unattractive name given to a place of sad asso- 
ciations to sailors. Stormy winds blow here which 
have sunk many a noble craft. In one year 
twenty-eight whale ships went down before their 
terrific force. 

We made good progress for two days, quite as 
long as good progress could be expected to con- 
tinue in those regions. We had gone down to 
dinner with an intelligent captain of one of the 
whale ships. Our dinner and talk were abruptly 
broken off by an alarm from the deck. The face 
of the sky had vailed its smiles, and it was frown- 
ing terribly. A moaning gale, carrying before it 
a brown vapor, heralded the storm. The ice 
gleamed fiercely and the floes rapidly crowded to- 
gether, as if to make a united attack on the ships, 
icebergs clashing in the mean time most sav- 
agely. Woe to the ships which came between 
them in their terrific assaults. 



Steaming through Ice-Floes. 191 

A scene of the most exciting interest now com- 
menced. Suddenly the ice was peopled with five 
hundred men. Long saws, with every expedient 
known to arctic voyagers, were put in operation 
to open safe retreats in the solid ice, known as 
" docks," where the ships, each in his own cuddy, 
might be safe from the contending floes. Each 
crew worked as for his own life, as well as that of 
his vessel. Defiant songs from hoarse throats rose 
above the piping wind. Loud laughs and sharp 
witticism of the men mingled with the decisive 
orders of the officers. The ice was an average 
thickness of three feet. Saws ten feet in length 
were used. Huge blocks were cut out which were 
drilled, charged with powder, and blown to pieces, 
the officers doing this delicate part of the woik. 

In an incredible short time explorers and whale- 
men were securely stowed away in a sound part 
of a floe, ready to go with it to any contest it 
might choose. The pressure of the whole pack 
was expended upon a chain of icebergs nearly ten 
miles north of our position. Floes charging ice- 
bergs was an unequal fight. Though every cubic 
yard of the solid ice which composed the floes 
weighed a ton, yet when hurled against the 
grounded bergs it was broken into fragments, 
thrown back, and piled into elevated heaps. The 
din of the battle was heard afar off. 

A bear, snuffing, perhaps, the odors from our 
many camp fires, came in sight. Away scampered 
a multitude of hunters, rushing pell-mell at the 
game, armed with whatever first came to hand. 



192 Arctic Heroes. 

Bruin, alarmed in good time, and having a long 
start of his foes, might have won the race. But a 
sharp appetite, tempted by a seal which lay across 
his path, overcame his discretion. He stopped to 
eat, and that meal cost him his life. He was shot 
by the foremost hunters, and brought home in 
triumph. 

The floes broke up as suddenly as they formed. 
Channels of water appeared in various directions. 
Through these the steamers towed the " Resolute " 
and " Assistance. " The other sailing vessels were 
" tracted " along these channels, as in canals the 
boats are drawn by horses. The crews of the 
whale ships, often counting sixty men, were fast- 
ened to a long line by their " tract-belts," and, with 
shouts and songs, made their heavy ships plow 
through the water at good speed. 

Frequent bars of thick ice brought to a stand- 
still the sailing vessels, but we, with our powerful 
wedge-like prow, pushed by the giant engine, 
drove through them, dragging at our heels the 
" Resolute." The men from the whalers came 
quizzing round, wondering at our power; even 
Penny " gave it up," and rated steam a success in 
arctic navigation. Some of the whale ships, dis- 
couraged by this tedious way of making progress, 
turned back, though a few hung upon our rear. 

The bars at last gave way, and Penny was -the 
first to enter the clear sea. The " Pioneer " and 
" Intrepid " made the best speed they could with 
their awkward sailing charges. We could only 
sail three miles an hour thus encumbered. Alone 



Steaming through Ice-Floes. 193 

we could have made five. Onward we steered, 
and we vainly imagined we should have no more 
ice-packs, but were soon to be in the " north 
water," and thence, sailing westward, to gain Lan- 
caster Sound, and the region where we hoped to 
get upon the track of the lost Franklin. How 
this hope thrilled our hearts ! But a few days only 
passed before all the searching squadrons were 
once more ice-bound. Between us and the shore 
was solid ice, called the land-floe, thirty miles in 
extent. It followed the irregularities of the coast, 
and seemed as firm as if it were an unchangeable 
part of it. Here and there, fast anchored within 
it, was a noble iceberg. We were held tight 
by the heavy, drifting ice, which, as it crowded 
against our ships, well deserved the name of 
" pack-ice;" at any rate we were packed into it 
very closely. 

The glare of the sun so dazzled the eyes of the 
men as they walked about near the ship, that 
many ludicrous appearing spectacles were devised 
to screen the eyes, causing much merriment. 

We were entertained too, as we sauntered about, 
by a beautiful refraction. Distant objects were 
lifted into the clouds and seen double. Some 
were curiously distorted. Captain Penny's ships, 
full thirty miles away, and whalers, lying in dif- 
ferent directions, were brought into full view. 

As the ice yielded to the current below, holes 
were opened. In these narwhal, or sea-unicorns, 
soon appeared, purring and plunging about, seem- 
ing to be in fine spirits, An officer of the " In- 



194 Arctic Heroes. 

trepid " fired at one of them, and, by special good 
luck, gave it a mortal wound. It was captured, 
dragged to the vessel, -and great rejoicing made 
over it. Its flesh was repulsive in smell and 
taste, and not to our liking as food. Some of the 
men ate it with a relish, and declared it tasted like 
chesnuts ! Just under the skin is a layer of fat or 
" blubber," which we carefully removed and boiled 
down to make oil. 

The spiral horn protruding from the front of 
its head, was about five feet long, and the whole 
fish was nearly eleven feet long. We reckoned 
its size about an average. The horn had a blunt 
but polished point, the rest of it being covered 
with slime and a greenish sea-weed. The fisher- 
men have various opinions about the use of this 
horn. It seems too clumsy as a weapon of attack 
or defense. Some think that he roots with it on 
the bottom of the sea, as a hog does in the sty. 
Others declare that they have seen him probe the 
fishes with it from the crevices of the ice, where 
they had hid to get out of his way. It must be 
quite handy for such a purpose. But as this tusk 
does not seem to be of very great use and is worn 
only by the male narwhal, it has been suggested 
that it is simply a badge of superior dignity. 
Baby narwhals wear two of these tusks, but one is 
deemed sufficient when they become grown folks. 

We left the carcass of our specimen to be 
devoured by the sea-fowl, and the greediness 
with which great numbers of them feasted upon 
it, showed their opinion of narwhal flesh. The 



Steaming through Ice- Floes. 195 

Esquimo consider it good eating, and no doubt we 
should if very hungry. All agree that its flesh is 
an excellent preventive of the scurvy. 

The good luck of the officer who shot it in 
securing a tusk to carry home as a trophy, caused 
the sport of these fish to be much disturbed. 
Showers of bullets were poured into them ; and, 
if they could not dodge them they soon learned 
to be shy. 

After refraction and the narwhals had, in turn, 
entertained us, a huge iceberg gave a rare exhibi- 
tion for our gratification. We had noticed its 
great size and solidity. It looked sufficiently 
massive to defy the winter storms and summer 
thaws of centuries. All at once it began to fall 
to pieces, as if shaken by an earthquake. Large 
masses fell from it into the water, shattered into a 
thousand pieces ! The sea around it seethed like 
a caldron. The swell that it occasioned lifted the 
floes for ten miles. We were glad that its dissolu- 
tion took place at a safe distance from us. 

One day Captain Penny, being on board of us, 
went into the " crow's nest," and swept the hori- 
zon with his glass. Hurrying to the deck and 
making preparations for a hasty departure for his 
own vessel, he exclaimed : " The land ice is break- 
ing up ! " We knew that his keen and practiced 
eye could not be deceived, and that ten miles of 
icy girding of the shore was soon to be in motion, 
threatening destruction to whatever came within 
its powerful "nips." We instantly armed for the 
conflict, and every man was at his post of duty, 



196 Arctic Heroes. 

awaiting the onset. Soon it came. Every timber 
and plank cracked and groaned, the treenails and 
iron bolts snapped with sharp reports, and the 
vessel was lifted bodily and considerably thrown 
over on her side ; the deck arched with the press- 
ure on her side, the bulk-head even cracked, and 
the whole noble craft was wrung with a quiver of 
agony. The floe held us in its giant grip, and, as 
if intent upon our destruction, piled up as high as 
the bulwarks. 

The men, without orders, but by a general im- 
pulse, packed up their clothes, and other little 
property, and brought them upon deck. They 
were ready for the desperate scramble for life 
upon the ice, when the fatal crisis of the " Pio- 
neer" came. They stood in knots waiting for or- 
ders, while officers with anxious eyes watched the 
floe edge as it harshly ground against the sides, 
to see if the strain was lessening. Suddenly the 
writhing vessel, like a deer loosened from the 
deadly coils of an anaconda, settled back into a 
natural position. We were safe ! But a deep 
scar on her side forty feet long, and twenty-one 
broken timbers upon one side, bore witness to the 
severity of her trial. 

For eleven days we struggled in this pack. But 
our great deliverance from imminent death gave 
us hope for the future. Surely the Divine hand 
upheld us, and we shall not fall in coming perils. 
So we felt. The men shouted and sung while 
at their exhausting work. Sometimes roars of 
laughter evinced their unflinching courage. Men 



Steaming through Ice-Floes. 197 

and officers shared alike in labor and .peril, and 
rejoiced together ; both hove at the capstan, and 
dragged at the tract-line. The dignity of the 
quarter-deck was laid aside as useless ; Jack, feel- 
ing the responsibility of the hour, took no advan- 
tage of the familiarity of his superiors, but played 
the part of a man. 

When the giant of the north bid us stop, we 
had our sports upon the ice. No school-boys ever 
played heartier. Men of gray hairs mingled with 
the youngest in the plays of youth. The panting, 
running, leaping, clapping of hands, roars of laugh- 
ter, shouts of "There now, that's not fair; run 
again," and uproarious exclamations of triumph, 
all declared we were boys again. 

While the crowd was thus employed, a few were 
quietly pitching quoits. A still smaller number 
strolled off, and, may be, talked of the past and 
sagely discussed the future. 

We occasionally had a bear chase by way of 
variety. Bruin was keen on the scent, and had a 
tough hide, which, though not ball proof, enabled 
him to carry off many with impunity. He could 
endure, too, long teasing and many thrusts from 
our pikes. . But his skin was in great danger when 
a troop of our "boys " went shouting after him. 
We always pitied, but always killed him when we 
could. The way he sometimes showed his teeth 
at us gave stimulating assurance that he had the 
will to kill us without the pity. 

# The early part of August, 1850, found us once 
more afloat in tolerably clear water. The squad- 



198 Arctic Heroes. 

ron having separated when drifting in the floes, a 
vexatious delay occurred to enable all the vessels 
to come together again. 

While thus waiting we saw in the hazy distance 
a schooner with two smaller crafts in attendance. 
They hung upon our rear for several days before 
we could make out what they were. On closing 
up they proved to be the " Felix," a searching ves- 
sel, commanded by the veteran explorer, Sir John 
Ross, with a small sailing-boat towing astern, and 
the " Prince Albert," in charge of Commander 
Forsyth. Their news from England was joyfully 
received, it being a month later than our own. 
All our friends were well and all hopeful of our 
success. We put these last letters from home 
away to read and reread in the dark, long arctic 
winter, when, may be, clouds might be darkening 
our prospects of ever seeing again the loved ones 
who wrote them. 

Our course was now one through alternate floes 
and open water. On the ninth of August Captain 
Penny slipped into a narrow lane of water and 
shot ahead of our squadron, and the new comers 
did the same. The steamers themselves seemed 
to resent this dropping into the stern chase. 
Three weary days had they chaffed behind a bar- 
rier of ice two or three hundred yards broad and 
three feet thick. They could endure it no longer, 
and they addressed themselves to the, work of 
its destruction. Its weakest part was carefully 
studied. The incumbrance of the ships was for 
the time shaken off. The larger part of the crews 



Steaming through Ice-Flo es. 199 

were sent to the place of attack, with short hand- 
lines, claws, iron bars, chisels, and various other 
tools. Some of the officers accompanied them 
with gunpowder. 

All being ready, the propellers, in turn, drew 
back, and, with a full head of steam, rushed at the 
floe. The wedge-bow penetrated, crushing many 
tons and cracking the ice in every direction. The 
crushed portions floated away of themselves. The 
cracked and loosened parts were immediately 
manned by the blue jackets with long lines in 
hand ; men on the bows of the steamer held the 
^other end of this line, she shot astern, carrying 
great rafts of ice, and the jolly men who were 
upon them. When one steamer went thus astern, 
the other dashed into the breach. The gun- 
powder, the while, dealt the icy barrier hard blows. 
The scene was exciting, and the blood warmed in 
our veins in spite of arctic cold. The enemy 
surrendered at discretion, and the next morning 
we were steaming joyously on after the Ross and 
Penny squadrons, dragging our clumsy ships at 
our heels. Myriads of birds crossed our track, so 
stupidly tame that we might have taken tons of 
them. 

Our steamers soon caught up with the " Felix " 
and the " Prince Albert," and avenged themselves 
of the late stern chase by taking them both in 
tow. 

August 13th we were steaming under Cape 
York; Melville Bay was passed; its turbulent 
waters and icy barriers were conquered ; " large 
13 



200 Arctic Heroes. 

waters " stretched away to the west and invited us 
on our desired course. The " Assistance " and 
" Intrepid " paused at Cape York to communicate 
with the natives, while our steamer pushed on. 
We passed Penny, who, though he knew the " Fe- 
lix " had letters for him from home, held stead- 
fastly on his course, with characteristic pluck. • 
In the evening the " Intrepid " overtook us with 
orders to turn back. Important information, it 
was said, had been obtained of an Esquimo con- 
cerning the fate of Franklin. The " Intrepid," 
having left us this order, pushed on after Penny to 
get his well-tried Danish interpreter, Mr. Peter- 
sen. Incredulous as to the story of the Esquimo, 
we reluctantly turned our prow from the coveted 
western shores of Baffin Bay. 



Significant Relics, 201 



CHAPTER XIX. 

SIGNIFICANT RELICS. 

THE story, on account of which the exploring 
fleet was detained, was repeated on the 
deck of the " Pioneer." The relator was Adam 
Beck, a South Greenland Esquimo, who had re- 
ceived from the white settlements what civilization 
he had. His story, in brief, was this : *That two 
ships were crushed in the ice a little north of Cape 
York, where we now were, in 1846 ; some of their 
men wore epaulets ; the entire crew were soon 
after murdered by the natives. 

Mr. Petersen, the Danish interpreter, regarded 
the whole story as a pure fiction, and charged Beck 
with lying, in the expectation that his story would 
induce some of the ships to return, and he by this 
means get a passage to South Greenland. An 
Esquimo lately taken on board our steamer took 
the same view. We, of the " Pioneer," regarded 
Beck as a liar. But Sir John Ross, of the " Felix," 
gave some credit to the story, so our commander, 
Austin, sent the " Assistance " and " Intrepid " to 
make further inquiry about the region named as 
the scene of the wrecks and murder; they were 
also to ascertain the fact about a ship which the 
natives agreed had wintered safely in that region 
the last season. This ship proved to be the " North 



202 Arctic Heroes. 

Star." Having done this errand, the "Assistance" 
and " Intrepid " were to cross to the west side, 
and examine the north shore of Lancaster Sound. 

On the 15th of August we, the " Pioneer," with 
the " Resolute " and " Prince Albert " in tow, 
gladly started again westward. After four hours 
of the old experience with the ice-pack, we reached 
the western waters. For forty-seven days we had 
been in almost perpetual conflict with ice. It 
had beset us behind and before. In calm and 
storm, by day and night, whether we slept or woke, 
off or on our guard, it never left us, except for a 
brief moment, that it might gather strength for 
a fiercer attack. Such had been Melville Bay. 
But here was nothing except water ! How beauti- 
ful ! Even the great giants of the north, the ice- 
bergs, watchful sentinels of the regions of cold, 
only seldom showed here their majestic forms. 
We turned our bows south-west, and steamed on 
both night and day. Our only annoyance was a 
dismal fog, but through it we steered. At one 
time, a spanking breeze starting up, the " Resolute," 
setting all sail, took our steamer in tow, and for four 
hours returned our favor, in part, of long and weary 
hours of towing. It was a capital joke, and we en- 
joyed it. 

We were soon at the mouth of Lancaster Sound, 
where we dropped the " Prince Albert," to proceed 
to Regent Inlet, while we explored for awhile a 
little further south. 

On the 26th of August, after days of a calm sea* 
we were running from the north side of Lancaster 



Significant Relics. 203 

Sound, toward the south-west, across the entrance 
to Regent Inlet, toward Leopold Island. A piping 
breeze was after us, giving assurance of an arctic 
gale. Ahead Cape York gleamed luridly through 
an angry sky, while the falling mercury warned us 
that the clear sea, with which we cared not for the 
tempest, might at any time give place to our old 
enemy, the floes. The " Pioneer " rolled and 
pitched like a sea-monster in mental agony, and 
refused all the devices of her staggering officers to 
comfort her. About half-past one in the morning 
the lifting of an angry sky gave us glimpses, 
through snow and squalls, of a precipitous coast 
not far ahead of us. Increasing daylight showed 
us an intervening pack, along whose edge the gale 
made the sea boil, and sent over it clouds of 
spray. It was a wild, terrific sight, and would have 
been a scene to enjoy but for "the serious work it 
was likely to give us. It wore away to the north. 
Toward the close of the day we were not far from 
Beechey Island, near the mouth of Wellington 
Channel. We were having nights now that were 
not all daylight, and the welcome moon shone 
beautifully as the sun dipped behind North Devon. 
While we were admiring the scene the man at the 
mast-head startled us with the shout, " A sail ! " 
It proved to be Penny's " Sophia." Yes, Captain 
Penny was at hand as usual. Two officers came 
on board, and gave us the following welcome 
intelligence : — 

The " Intrepid " and "Assurance " had cruised 
about the locality where, according to Adam Beck's 



204 Arctic Heroes. 

story, two ships had, in 1846, been crushed. But 
they found nothing, either in relics or the talk of the 
natives, to confirm the tale. They had ascertained, 
however, that the exploring vessel, the " North 
Star," had spent comfortably the last winter there. 
But since following us into Lancaster Sound their 
searching had been well repaid. They had found 
at Cape Riley, the eastern land-side of the mouth 
of Wellington Channel, numerous traces of a visit 
from English seamen. Bits of rope, broken bottles, 
a part of a deep-sea rake, and the various marks of 
an encampment, were scattered here and there. 

Having found these stimulating relics, a boat- 
load of officers and men visited Beechey Island, 
lying just a little seaward of the cape. They 
picked up on the shore more relics of English 
visitors. Looking sharply about they observed 
upon a cliff, which rose sharply from the beach, a 
cairn — a rounded heap of stones. With almost 
breathless haste and deep solicitude they ascended 
the cliff and removed the stones carefully, one by 
one. But no word of writing or further clew to 
the identity of those raising the cairn was found. 
While standing with disappointed-looking faces 
about the upturned foundation of the monumental 
pile, they saw with alarm a hungry polar bear trot- 
ting boldly toward the two men left in charge of 
the boat. None of the party had brought arms 
of any kind from the vessel. Here was a fix! 
The men launched the boat and rowed in haste to 
the steamer. Bruin gave chase. Now what if he 
turns back and attacks the unarmed party on the 



Significant Relics, 205 

island ! He seemed, before giving chase, to have 
deliberately surveyed the whole party, both those 
on the hill as well as the men in the boat, and to 
comprehend the situation. But he scorned to 
attack the defenseless; or, perhaps, he had heard 
rumors of these strangers which led him to think 
that it was wisdom to give them a wide berth. He 
followed the boat a rod or two, turned off and 
swam for the ice-pack, on which he soon dis- 
appeared. We think there were no more unarmed 
visitors on the island during the season. 

Captain Penny having heard of these traces, as 
all believed, of Sir John Franklin, returned to his 
own ship,' as he declared, "to take up the search 
from Cape Riley like a blood-hound." This he 
did with good results. He soon reported that 
another camping-ground was discovered. The 
tent-floor was neatly paved with stones. Bird 
bones were strewn around, and remnants of meat- 
canisters found of unmistakable English make. 

The American Grinnell Expedition, in the "Ad- 
vance " and " Rescue," on the same errand as our- 
selves, under the command of Lieutenant De 
Haven, was now joined with our squadrons in the 
exciting search. The shores of the entire vicinity, 
in a sweep of many miles, were likely to be closely 
examined. Here were now our four vessels, Penny's 
two, Sir John Ross's " Felix " and her tender, the 
"Mary," and the American "Advance" and 
" Rescue." Penny, as usual, was in luck, and 
soon found evidence of more tent-encampments. 
But, as he was carefully examining one day the 



206 Arctic Heroes. 

southern slope of Beechey Island, he found a large 
number of preserved meat-tins. A rounded pile 
of these, filled with sand, was discovered on the 
top of the slope ; but a careful removal of these, 
can by can, revealed no documents. 

Beyond these, and farther north, were still more 
important relics. The site of a carpenter's shop, 
an armorer's working place, washing-tubs, coal- 
bags, pieces of old clothing and rope ; and, lastly, 
the decisive evidence of the English visitors, three 
graves. These were scrupulously neat, like all 
the graves of Englishmen, even of the poor, whether 
in the rural cemeteries at home or on foreign 
shores. The inscriptions contained no inflated 
verse. They were as follows : — 

" Sacred to the memory of J. Torrinton, who 
departed this life January i, 1846, on board H. M. S. 
i Terror,' aged 20 years. " 

"Sacred to the memory of Wm. Braine, R. N., 
of H. M. S. l Erebus ;' died April 3, 1846, aged 32." 

" ' Choose you this day whom ye will serve/ 
Joshua xxiv, 15." 

" Sacred to the memory of J. Hartwell, A. B., 
of H. M. S. ' Erebus,' died January 4, 1846, aged 
25 years." 

" ' Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; Consider your 
ways.' Haggai i, 7." 

Here then, at last, was decisive proof that Frank- 
lin's ships were not crushed by the ice in Baffin 
Bay, nor the men murdered by the natives. Thus 
far we were on the right track. Now, if in some 
of the monuments of stone, such as we had dis- 



Significant Relics. 207 

covered, put up beyond a doubt by the men of the 
" Erebus " and "Terror," we could find a docu- 
ment left by Franklin, telling us the route taken 
by him after leaving Beechey Island, all the ex- 
ploring squadrons would joyfully face any danger 
in following him. To find such a record now 
engaged the attention of every ship's company. 
Much additional evidence was obtained that he 
had made Beechey Island his first winter-quarters ; 
but no documents were found. 

Winter was now well upon us. The American 
vessels took a courteous leave of us, and bore 
away, as they had been ordered, for New York. 
By the middle of September our squadron were 
caught in a floe, a mile from Griffith Island, the 
nearest land, where we were obliged to make a 
stop for the winter. Captain Penny and Sir John 
Ross, with their vessels, had chosen snug winter 
retreats twenty miles from us, near Beechey Island. 

It was arranged for the three squadrons to take 
three different routes in the spring : one to the 
north-west, up Wellington Channel ; one west, 
past if possible Melville Island ; and the third 
south-west, beyond Cape Walker, along the west- 
ern shore of Boothia. During October parties 
were sent out as far as possible in these directions to 
make deposits of provisions, securing them from the 
bears' sharp teeth and strong paws by heaps of stones. 

One of these parties were saved from a plunge 
into the water, if not from drowning, by the 
sagacity of a shaggy polar who was at the time on 
a hunting excursion. The officer in charge had 



2o8 Arctic Heroes. 

not noticed that he was getting on newly formed 
and weak ice. Just ahead was bruin cautiously 
feeling his way along by stop-ping occasionally and 
jumping upon the ice to try its strength. The 
explorers took the hint of caution and soon found 
reason to do so. We are sorry to record that they 
shot their good adviser, and subsequently dragged 
him to the ship for dog food. 

One illustration of our manner of camping on 
these excursions will answer to show their general 
character. 

There are seven of us, officers and men; com- 
mon labor and peril pretty much removing official 
distinction. It is an October evening. One al- 
most unbroken mantle of white covers sea and 
land. It is a dreary monotony, and all nature 
seems to shiver in the frosty atmosphere. .We 
make a "soft spot," by clearing away the larger 
pieces of limestone, and arranging the smaller 
pieces into something like a floor of paved work. 
We erect our brown Holland tent over this. One 
of us is cook for the day, aided by one who will 
be cook to-morrow. The cooking apparatus is a 
boats' stove, eighteen inches long and nine broad, 
in which lignum vita is used as fuel. Water is 
obtained by melting the snow, and then the boil- 
ing and cooking is done in the open air, and so 
supper is not hurried up with boarding-house 
promptness. 

While two are thus employed, others take guns 
and try their luck in securing fresh provisions. 
Bear meat is not sought after just now, and the 



Significant Relics. 209 

animal under whose skin such meat grows has 
liberty to keep both his skin and flesh and give 
our camp a wide berth. 

The hunters having returned, the cook reports, 
— " Supper is ready, sir." It is a pemmican sup- 
per! It is supposed to be made of the best rump- 
steaks and suet, worth a shilling and six-pence a 
pound. Our men generally vote it composed of 
worn-out horses and Russia tallow. It is not 
sweet in savor, though strong in nourishment. 
To the dainty it is nauseous, but to an arctic 
appetite, especially to those making, as we propose 
to do, sledge-journeys of four or five hundred con- 
tinuous miles, it is a delicious morsel. A " jolly 
hot basin of tea," with biscuit to crumb into it, and 
our dish is fit " to set before the queen." 

Supper being done, the tent is carefully swept, 
and the pebbles which compose our bed are re- 
arranged. We call this last operation — " Stirring 
up the feathers." A waterproof blanket is thrown 
over these to prevent the moisture which the 
warmth of our bodies raises from the frosty " feath- 
ers " from wetting us through. Boots and jackets 
are taken off and used for pillows. Then we all, 
except the cook, draw our legs and bodies into 
blanket-bags, roll ourselves up in wolf-skin robes, 
and, our prayers being said, we are about ready 
to compose ourselves to sleep. But while the 
cook is " clearing up," getting ready the breakfast 
for cooking, fastening down the tent, and seeing 
that every thing is in order, many a tough yarn is 
told, and laughter-exciting joke made. After a 



210 Arctic Heroes. 

while the cook, having " tucked us in," shouts — 
"All right!" Then we, seven jolly explorers, 
lying alternately head and feet across the tent, 
"cuddle down " and sleep ; yes, sleep soundly, with 
the thermometer outside 30 below zero. 

An arctic winter was now, November 8, fairly 
upon us. We obtained to-day the last glimpse of 
the sun. Two of us went upon the heights of 
Griffith Island at mid-day, and saw his pleasant 
face, though he was in fact seventeen miles below 
the horizon. We were indebted to refraction for 
this last adieu from the King of Day. However 
hopeful of the future we might be, and possessed 
as we certainly were with more occasion for cour- 
age than most other sojourners in the long arctic 
night, the bravest needed to stay his mind upon 
God. This, we trust, many at least of our com- 
pany felt. The religious services of our vessel 
had a more solemn meaning. The prayers were 
deeper toned. The following form of supplica- 
tion, written for us before we left England, and 
included among the thoughtful presents of kind 
friends, was used with profit : — 

" O Lord, our Heavenly Father, who teachest 
man knowledge, and givest skill and power to ac- 
complish his designs, we desire continually to 
wait, and call, and depend upon thee. Thy way 
is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters. 
Thou rulest and commandest all things. We 
therefore draw nigh unto thee for help in the great 
work which we now have to do. 

" Leave us not, we beseech thee, to our own 



Significant Relics, 21 1 

counsel, nor to the imaginations of our foolish 
and deceitful hearts ; but lead us by the way 
wherein we should go. Do thou, O Lord, make ■ 
our way prosperous, and give us good success. 
Bring all needful things to our remembrance ; and 
where we have not the presence of mind, nor the 
ability, to perform thy will, magnify thy power in 
our weakness. Let thy good providence be our 
aid and protection, and thy Holy Spirit our Guide 
and Comforter. Endue us with such strength and 
patience as may carry us through' every toil and 
danger, whether by sea or land ; and, if it be thy 
good pleasure, vouchsafe to us a safe return to our 
families and homes. 

" Bless us all with thy favor, which is life, and 
with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus ; and 
grant us so to pass the waves of this troublesome 
world, that finally we may come unto thine ever- 
lasting kingdom. Grant this for thy dear Son's 
sake, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 

A glance at our good ship, inside and out, and 
at what is going on in and around her, may inter- 
est the reader : Our upper decks are now cleared 
of all the lumber and covered in ; boats secured 
on the ice ; the warming apparatus set at work ; 
masts and yards made as snug as possible ; rows 
of posts set up to show the road in the darkness 
and snow-storms, from ship to ship ; hole cut in 
the ice, to be kept always open, for a supply of 
water in case of fire, and a winter round of duties 
entered upon to keep up the discipline, cheerful- 
ness, and health of the men. 



212 Arctic Heroes. 

This work being done — the real work was easily 
and soon done — the men found pleasure and 
healthful employment in renewing the sports of 
boyhood. They built snow walls, houses, and 
forts, such as all boys in the lands where snow is. 
found have delighted to build. They cut out of 
the snow obelisks, sphinxes, vases, and cannon. 
These were sometimes carved with taste and skill, 
and gave the floes a picturesque appearance. But 
their greatest triumph in snow sculpture was in the 
statue of Britannia. Its stately form, looking 
west, was admired by all. 

These out-door amusements were, of course, 
only for awhile. When they failed the wits and 
tact of the officers were drawn out to keep every 
mind healthfully exercised. Schools, religious serv- 
ices, newspapers — one an illustrated sheet — a club- 
room, a saloon, dramatic performances, mask balls, 
and instructive lectures — all claimed a share of 
attention. Artists and musicians, orators and 
teachers, common laborers and professional men, 
were all represented in this routine of instruction 
and amusement. Men gifted in telling the stories 
of the "olden times," especially if they could 
repeat the tales concerning early arctic heroes, 
were always sure of an attentive audience. 

It is a day of total darkness so far as the sun is 
concerned, but the manner in which it is spent 
fitly represents the average of our winter days. 
Let us step below. The lower deck and cabins 
are lighted with candles and lamps. No external 
air is admitted except that which is under control 



Significant Relics. 213 

as it passes in through pipes and passes out 
through ventilators. Double doors are carefully 
adjusted to prevent draughts. It is breakfast- 
time. Reeking hot cocoa steams on every mess- 
table. We are not on " short rations," and a 
hearty meal is eaten. This_ done, a few remain 
below to clear up and arrange for dinner; the 
rest pull on warm clothes and go on deck. Here, 
after the domestic work below is done, all hands 
are mustered. The officers inspect the men to 
see if they are clean, watching sharply every occa- 
sion of disease. The ship is then examined to 
see if every part is clean, and all hands disperse 
to their petty labor, and then amuse themselves 
according to their several tastes. The upper 
deck being covered, as we have stated, is kept 
clear for gymnastic exercises. If the wind is not 
violent a few venture to stroll away from the ship 
on the ice. 

At noon the seamen dine on soups, and pre- 
served meats called by them "salt horse." The 
officers dine later on fare not essentially different. 
The resources of the men in inventing entertain- 
ment flags a little in the afternoon, and the .evening 
meal with hot tea comes to break the monotony. 
It is school night, and the pupils go to their self- 
imposed tasks, and the teachers to their gratuitous 
service. Bookish men con over some interesting 
volume. Artists are sketching or painting by 
candle-light,- and men given to the use of the pen 
are writing up their journals, or putting on paper 
thoughts born under the inspiration of arctic skies. 



214 Arctic Heroes. 

Music, chess, and cards receive their share of 
attention, while social conversation is seldom want- 
ing in vivacity ; and, since we unfortunately have 
not learned the better way, cigars, pipes, and grog 
bring round the bed-time. 

But in spite of all our amusements, labor, study, 
conversation, and earnestly-cultivated heroic brav- 
ery of which we boasted, there was a very noticeable 
tendency among us to talk of England, friends, 
and home. 

While the above methods of passing the time 
occupied the attention generally, there were some 
who devoted all their energies to render successful 
the object of our search. They were practicing 
the various ingenious means, put into our hands 
before we left home, of communicating with the 
lost ones. Rockets in the calm evenings glowed 
and flashed along the sky, and were responded to 
by Penny's ships, though we were twenty miles 
apart. 

We employed balloons in a novel way. Those 
of oil-silk, capable when inflated of raising a 
pound, were used. When one was all ready to 
ascend, a piece of slow match five feet long was 
attached. Along this match-rope, at short inter- 
vals, pieces of colored silk and paper were secured 
with thread ; on them were printed information of 
our present position and intended lines of search 
in the spring. The balloons, when liberated, rose 
and sailed away, dropping the glaring messages 
on the white snow as the match burned. Our 
silent prayers followed them that they might fall 



Significant Relics. 215 

tinder the eye of some one belonging to the lost 
ships. Great care was used to send them up when 
the wind promised to carry them to the north and 
north-west. 

A few fire-balloons were also sent up. 
•It was vexatious to see these aerial vessels sail 
about in the upper currents of air in the most 
fickle manner. Starting off north-west, they were 
soon gliding away to the south-east, altering their 
course several times before disappearing from sight. 

The greatest distance at which we found any of 
these pieces of silk or paper was fifty miles. Some 
may have gone many times as far. 

Another means of communication used were 
carrier-pigeons. We of the " Pioneer " brought 
out none of them, and we confess that we were 
inclined to laugh at the idea of these birds being 
able to reach their far-away home in safety if dis- 
patched from any of our exploring ships ; but there 
were four of them on. board the " Felix," given to 
Sir John Ross by a lady friend living near Ayr, in 
Scotland. He agreed to set two of them at liberty 
when he went into winter-quarters, and the other 
two when Sir John Franklin was found. On the 
7th of October, 1850, when snugly tucked away in 
his harbor, near Beechey Island, he sent off the 
youngest couple. They were put into a basket 
attached to a balloon, a slow match being so 
arranged as to liberate and launch them into the 
air, to commence their flight at the expiration of 
twenty-four hours. The balloon ascended to com- 
mence its aerial vovage when it was supposed that 
14 



216 Arctic Heroes. 

the atmospheric current would bear it many miles 
their way. It blew a gale at the time and the 
temperature was below zero. In about five days 
one of them, as the lady owner affirmed, reached 
the dove-cot where it was born. It had disen- 
cumbered itself somehow of the message with 
which it was intrusted, though its feathers bore 
evidence of its having started with one. The dis- 
tance in an air line was not less than twenty-four 
hundred miles; the distance which the balloon 
had borne it we, of course, cannot tell, but its sus- 
tained flight on the wing must have been truly 
wonderful. 

The experiments we made to use kites as signals 
to parties at a distance were not very successful ; 
but we used them to good purpose. When our 
sledges were running before a strong wind on 
level and smooth ice we let fly the kites as sails, 
and with shouts and laughter sped on our way. 
But, of course, we could not often have smooth 
sailing and a fair breeze, so that for the greater 
part of the time the sails were a dead weight on us. 

There was among us another device for convey- 
ing intelligence to our lost friends, though it must be 
confessed we adopted it more for amusement than 
in confidence of its success. Curious little arctic 
foxes were slyly peering about our ships. Some of 
these we caught, fixed a brass collar on them, on 
which our message was engraved, and then set them 
free. The discharge of one of these foxy postmen 
was a signal of a general chase by officers and men, 
with bursts of laughter and wild shouts which, 



Significant Relics. 217 

at times, seemed^so to bewilder them that they 
ran hither and thither, making their capture easy 
if we had desired it. A more courteous dismissal 
would, we think, have better disposed them to a 
faithful delivery of our messages. « 

These liberated foxes were presumed to immi- 
grate to distant and more friendly neighborhoods 
after this rough experience. But it leaked out 
that the " men " in the forecastle were nightly re- 
capturing these collared gentlemen, making dainty 
meals of their flesh, and packing away their skins 
for future speculations with fur-dealers. Orders 
were promptly issued that foxes taken alive must 
be liberated. Jack, from the going forth of this 
edict, took good care that all foxes putting their 
noses into the traps should be found dead. The 
fact seemed to be that these cunning animals liked 
the fare they scented and occasionally tasted about 
our ships, and were willing to risk their lives in 
getting a second taste ; they seemed in nowise in- 
clined to do our errands to our lost friends. 

The dark winter passed thus away. On the 
7th of February, 185 1, a man at the mast-head 
proclaimed the good news that the sun had re- 
turned. The rigging of all the vessels was soon 
manned to get a glimpse of his welcome face. He 
had been absent three months. He was greeted 
with prolonged and hearty cheers. For one whole 
hour he blessed us by his presence and then re- 
tired, promising us a longer stay each successive 
day until he should pay us the long summer visit. 

Preparations were now hurried forward for the 



218 Arctic Heroes. 

proposed sledging. Time flew . # on rapid wings, 
and April was upon us before we were fully ready 
for it. Five hundred men, British and Americans, 
were astir within the frigid zone, aiming at the 
same result — that of saving Sir John Franklin. 

The men of our squadron were mustered, on the 
1 2th of April, under a projecting point of Griffith 
Island, to be inspected- by our chief. This done, 
we returned to our ship and spent the Sabbath 
•quietly, having religious service, and. indulging 
some sober though not depressed feelings in ref- 
erence to the responsible and laborious duties 
which we were to enter upon on Monday. But 
that day came breezy with blinding snow. Tues- 
day evening came with abated wind, and the 
thermometer only fourteen degrees below zero, so 
we donned our traveling gear, harnessed ourselves 
to the sledges, listened to a brief but earnest 
prayer, in which we were commended to God's 
providential care, and started. 

We will not detain the reader with the details 
of our desperate struggles over hummocks, our suf- 
ferings from snow blindness and frost bites, and 
our varied perils and the unflinching bravery of our 
men for fifty-eight days. Our return journey was 
five hundred miles in a direct line. The last day 
homeward we made twenty-five miles. This may 
attest the pluck with which we closed our search. 
The other sledge parties returned soon after. Only 
one man had fallen, and he faltered at the be- 
ginning. No additional information concerning 
Sir John had been obtained. Penny's sledge parties 



Significant Relics. 219 

to the north-west had been equally unsuccessful. 
No news of the lost ones came from any explor- 
ing party, though thousands of miles had been 
traversed to secure it. 

Our icy fetters having fallen off on the nth of 
August, the steamers took their ships in tow and 
once more pushed out of Lancaster Sound. Cap- 
tain Penny's ships left for England at the same 
time, and Sir John Ross was homeward bound. 
Our squadron spent a few weeks in vain search 
further north, when we, too, squared away for 
"home, sweet home. ,, 



220 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER XX. 

YANKEE ICE-FIGHTING. 

WE have referred to the fact that the people 
and Government of the United States were 
not idle spectators of the efforts of England to 
save her lost explorers. The American interest 
in the searching expeditions sent out in 1848 from 
England was preparing the public mind for one 
which should fly the stars and stripes. To prompt 
this interest, Lady Franklin wrote to the President. 
Through him she called upon us, " as a kindred 
people, to join heart and hand in the enterprise 
of snatching the lost navigators from a dreary 
grave." 

Congress moved in the matter, but with a tardi- 
ness which belongs to " great bodies." Delay in 
this business was the assurance of failure, so that 
the coming forward just in time of a princely 
merchant of New York, tendering a part of the 
resources of his purse, saved probably the credit 
of our nation in reference to the arctic search. 
Mr. Henry Grinnell fitted out two of his vessels, 
and gave them for the enterprise to the Govern- 
ment. The President, under the authority of 
Congress, detailed from the navy such officers and 
seamen to man them as he deemed competent to 
the service, and as* had also an ambition for the 



Yankee Ice-Fighting. 221 

perilous undertaking. The vessels received the 
appropriate names of u Advance " and " Rescue. " 
They were small brigs, both together rating only- 
two hundred and thirty-five tons. They were 
simply lumbering coasters to the eye, but, judged 
by their adaptation to the service to which they 
had been appointed, brave looking crafts. Their 
hulls had two coverings, each, of two and a half 
inch oak plank ; a heavy shield of strips of sheet- 
iron extended from the bows along the sides. 
Their decks were double, and made water-tight. 
The inside was ceiled with cork, to secure greater 
warmth and dryness. Their wooden frame-works 
were made doubly strong. The rudders could be 
unshipped and taken on board in four minutes. 
Neither careful planning, skill, nor expenditure of 
money were wanting to make them all they needed 
to be. 

The crews were man-of-war's men, of various 
nationalities, constitutions, and habits, and were 
not especially promising in their make-up, but 
proved true under severe tests — a fact creditable, 
we should think, to the officers, as well as men. 
The larger vessel, the " Advance," carried thirteen 
seamen and four officers ; the u Rescue " had the 
same number of officers, and twelve seamen. 

The expedition was commanded by Captain 
De Haven, in the " Advance," under whom was 
Lieutenant Griffin, in the "Rescue." Elisha K. 
Kane, M.D., who rose to such distinction among 
arctic navigators, and to whose ready pen we are 
indebted for rich stores of information of the 



222 Arctic Heroes. 

northern seas, was the surgeon of the flag-ship^ 
"Advance." 

After all that was done to make the outfit 
thorough, the comforts and aids in prosecuting 
the search on the part of the American vessels 
compared poorly with those of the steam-propeller 
squadron we have just described. The cabins 
were of small dimensions, containing just four not 
roomy berths. Jack's quarters were, of course,, 
crowded. The smashing of floes was to be done 
by the brigs themselves, without the powerful aid 
of the giant steam-engine. 

The squadron started on its errand of love on 
the 22d of May, 1850. The witnessing crowd 
waved them kind adieus from the wharves and 
house-tops, and many a " God bless you ! " was 
breathed as the news of their departure was read 
in the households of the land, while many hearts 
in the fatherland were thrilled with joy at their 
noble purpose. 

We shall assume a cozy place in the cabin of 
the flag-ship, where we hope to be no intruder, 
while we carefully note the events more or less 
peculiar to this expedition. 

On the 17th of June the night left us, or rather 
the darkness, for our sun, having retired at the 
unseasonable hour of ten P.M., rose at the early 
hour of two A.M. We learned by the nerve-dis- 
turbing continuance of blazing light how blessed 
is darkness to the heavy eyelids. 

We were, in a few more days' sail, well into the 
region of icebergs and glaciers, and the rugged, 



Yankee Ice-Fighting. 223 

ice-bound and snow-clad shore of Greenland came 
into view. A solitary berg, of majestic propor- 
tions, attracted our attention. Behind it the sun 
was shining, lighting the sea with a crimson hue. 
While we were watching the berg it lost its balance, 
probably by the shelving off of some projecting 
crag, and it began to swing back and forth, rolling 
vast waves in a widening circuit over the sea. 
This sudden action of the berg startled from their 
resting-place in its icy crevices myriads of birds, 
which rose in a dark, circling cloud above it. The 
scene was novel to us and impressive. 

On the 24th of June our sun, having descended 
to the verge of the horizon, started again on its 
upward course. 

We were soon at a Danish port in the Bay of 
Disco. Here we learned that the English squad- 
ron, under Commodore Austin, had left only the 
day before. His steamers, the " Pioneer " and 
" Intrepid," would keep him, we thought, in ad- 
vance of our clumsy sailing vessels. 

While we waited on deck for our boat to be 
manned to carry us ashore we observed a black 
object in the water coming from the land toward 
the ship. It moved rapidly and seemed like a 
Newfoundland dog. As it approached we could 
discern a black projection from it too long for the 
•neck and head of a dog; while a curious flapping 
was going on, first on this side and then on that, 
as it sped swiftly along. When in a few moments 
it was along side, we obtained our first clear view 
of a Greenland kayak. It was canoe-shaped, and 



224 Arctic Heroes. 

over its frame seal skins were tightly drawn. It 
was both air and water tight, excepting a hole 
nearly in its center, just large enough to receive 
its occupant. It was eighteen feet long and twen- 
ty inches wide, running off to a sharp point at both 
ends. 

The Esquimo sailor was nicely adjusted to the 
hole in the center. His undressed, hooded, seal- 
skin coat was drawn closely over a rim around the 
hole, fitting tightly, and completely shutting out 
the water. He seized in the middle an oar bladed 
at both ends, and, dipping it on either side rapidly 
and with wonderful skill, skimmed over the water 
as if boat and man were parts of the same animal 
— a thing of beauty, grace, and vivacity. As we 
rowed to the shore a fleet of these kayaks hung in 
our wake, or hovered about our sides, just outside 
the dip of our oars, like hungry sea-fowls after a 
morning breakfast. Our first impression of the 
people, who are Esquimo with some Danish blood, 
was one of disgust. Oil and fat, raw hides of seals, 
scraps of fish and discarded bones, and various 
kinds of garbage, were scattered every-where about 
the huts. Inside they were still more filthy — men, 
women, and children, old people and the invalids, 
were crowded into the smallest possible space. 
Their summer huts, in which some of them were 
now living, were made of reindeer skins. Their 
winter houses were half under ground. We saw 
in one, only six feet by eight, a father, mother, 
four children, and a grandfather, a tea-kettle, a 
rude box, two rifles, and a litter of puppies. 



Yankee Ice-Fighting, 22J 

While we were rowing among the islands of 
Disco Bay we noticed the remarkable transparency 
of the water. This has often been noticed by 
voyagers to the Polar Seas as characteristic of 
them. We could see every feature of the bottom 
at a depth of sixty feet. A luxuriant growth of 
deep green plants, and long, tangled grasses, waved 
as gracefully as if they were the objects of constant 
observation by admiring men. 

We obtained at Godhavn, on Disco Island, our 
outfit of fur clothes. The most important arti- 
cles were a close-fitting jacket, called a "jumper," 
with a hood like that worn by our ladies on a 
water-proof, and water-tight seal-skin boots. 

We were soon under all sail crowding our way 
toward the- north water — the iceless sea beyond 
Melville Bay. Vessels sometimes cross from the 
Greenland to the west side of Baffin Bay, farther 
south, and occasionally they see an opening 
through the middle waters, but generally it is 
the quickest and safest route to keep on the east 
side until reaching the northern opening. On the 
first of July we began our conflict with field-ice — 
broken fragments of great extent. 

July 2 we were sailing in water free from the 
drifting cakes of ice, but the huge, cold, dignified, 
but at times sparkling icebergs were about us. 
We observed one, a monster ice mountain, whose 
top and sides were varied in form, including hill 
and dale. It was at least two hundred feet high. 
On this a company of us landed. The scenery to 
which we were treated from one of its hill-tops 



228 Arctic Heroes. 

was beautiful. Below, the water was surging into 
the caves and grottoes at its base, sending up a 
murmuring sound of plaintive music ; above us 
were wild, projecting crags on which the sea- 
birds screamed their harsh but joyous notes of 
freedom. 

We were treated, by that curious operator in 
arctic views, refraction, to a fine panorama as we 
were, on the nth of July, slowly moving over an 
almost quiet sea. A strip of horizon, resembling 
an extended plain — a true watery horizon — first 
appeared. Then above it was a horizon of re- 
fraction, with an aerial ocean margin, lined with 
structures ever varying in form. Great needles, 
obelisks of pure whiteness, cities in majestic pro- 
portions, but instantly passing into the chaotic 
forms of the wildest ruins, and buildings of archi- 
tectural grandeur, whose outlines we had just 
begun to scan, when the whole vanished. The 
excited imagination of the inebriate could not 
create a more fantastic scene. Suddenly, as by a 
flash, they re-appeared, to dance, dazzle, and amaze 
for a moment, and then to vanish as swiftly. 

If the creations of refraction are the baseless 
fabrics of a vision, navigation in this ice-bound 
sea with our sturdy little vessels is a real thing. 
Let us try to show our readers how we did it. 

We are now in a little space of clear water. 
Look beyond this over the bows of our vessel. 
It is one extended and almost boundless plain of 
solid ice. A little distance to the left is a huge 
iceberg rising above the icy plain like some hill 



Yankee Ice-Fighting. 229 

from the level land of the shore. You see that 
narrow opening in this field of ice, commencing 
just on our left. Its irregular course may remind 
you^ of the wandering streams through the 'mead- 
ows at home, as it follows for awhile the base of 
the berg, and then is lost to the sight in its ser- 
pentine windings. This is known among arctic 
navigators as a "lead." We propose to break 
away from the icy prison in which we have been 
held for some time by navigating that " lead " by 
what is called "conning." The sails are put in 
trim and the brig's head is directed to the open 
gap. Men are stationed at the ropes which con- 
trol the sails. Silence for a moment prevails as 
we wait for the concussion. The commander 
thunders his orders to the man at the helm, the 
sails, by a steady haul on the ropes, aid the vessel 
in the course the helm has given her, and she 
thrusts her nose into the gap. Away she goes 
banging her sides against the ice, crushing it with 
her bows, and making, it may be, a headway 
equal to a few times her length. Somebody in 
the rigging who is watching the " lead " exclaims 
u pshaw ! " as we bring up, all-standing, in a short 
turn of the " lead." For a time we scrape, scratch, 
and thump our way, until two great, solid ice- 
fields shut us in, and forbid our moving another 
foot until their sovereign pleasure is further com- 
municated. Some one exclaims, " eugh ! " and 
we all go quietly to supper. 

When we come on deck again we have been 
refreshed by food and rest. We all have a mind 



230 Arctic Heroes. 

to work and are ready for the word of command. 
Our captain now changes the mode of attack on 
the enemy. The wind is light and dead ahead, 
and there is not enough sea-room to get headway 
on the ship if it were not, so smashing the ice by 
sailing into it is for the present " played out.'' 
The ice-anchors are ordered out. These are 
strong iron hooks, of which we have two sizes, 
one weighing forty and the other a hundred pounds. 
Two men jump from the ship with one of the 
largest and settle it into the ice ahead near the 
edge of the crack through which we wish to force 
our way. The large hooked end of the anchor 
being sunk firmly, to the smaller hook of its other 
end a new, strong, large rope — " a hawser " — is ad- 
justed. The other end of the hawser is wound 
around "the windlass" with cogs and levers at- 
tached. All hands in turn man the levers, bring- 
ing a strain on the hawser which draws with im- 
mense power on the ice-anchor. Captain, cook, 
steward, doctor, and seamen sweat away at the 
levers, dignity stepping aside to let muscles have 
control. The crack gradually opens, the ship 
crowds herself in, until the hawser's length is 
drawn up to the anchor, which is then carried 
ahead and the operation repeated. This we call 
" heaving." 

May be the ice refuses to be thus crowded 
aside ; we toil and strain away with the powerful 
machinery which draws upon the ten-inch haws- 
er ; it smokes with the tension, snaps with a loud 
report, and we give it up and go below. We have 



Yankee Ice-Fighting. 231 

had nothing to pay for our hard work but the 
satisfaction of those who try. 

We wait, rest, recover our strength and energy, 
and try again. Now perhaps the Ice King is in 
better temper toward us. He relaxes his grip, 
we heave along until our way becomes so easy 
that the hundred pound ice-hook is taken aboard. 
A man now jumps out with the forty pound hook 
on his shoulder. The ice has changed its mode 
of attack ; it has become treacherous, and gives 
way as he leaps over the cracks, and from one icy 
raft to another. Occasionally he gets a ducking. 
Attached to the anchor he carries is a light, thin, 
strong cordage, called a whale-line, made of the 
best material. He plants his anchor firmly in a 
distant ice-cape lying in the direction of our de- 
sired course. The ship end of the line is passed 
round " the capstan." The drawing in of this line 
is light work compared to the " heaving ; " strong 
bars are put in the sockets made for them in the 
machine we call " a capstan," by which it is made 
to turn and thus wind round it and draw in the 
cord. All hands grasp these capstan-bars and 
walk round; if the sailors are fresh and in good 
humor, we march to the jolly chorus of their 
song. The ship " walks " through the broken ice 
until all the cord is drawn in and she reaches 
the anchor. The merry work is then repeated, 
and we make a little progress. This we call 
warping. 

Soon our fickle Ice King gives us an opportunity 
for another style of progress. As the floes are 



232 Arctic Heroes. 

ever changing, so we change our expedients. A 
canal of clear water is allowed us. Both heaving 
and warping are abandoned as too hard or slow 
work. The line is run out, and the men harness 
themselves to it. This is done by putting a strap 
over their shoulders and then fastening it to the 
line. Thus " accoutered," the men-horses tug 
away, or start off, if there is clear sailing and good 
footing, at " a dog trot," drawing the vessel after 
them. This we call tracking. 

When we could neither "heave," nor "warp," 
nor "track," we wasted our strength on "sawing," 
"cutting," "prying," and other expedients, im- 
pelled by our want of experience and our ardent 
temperaments. We spent twenty-one days in this 
kind of toil, in a circle not more than twelve 
miles in diameter. We measured progress from 
day to day by yards and feet, not by miles. This 
will do to illustrate our way of getting out of tight 
places. 

On the eleventh of July the " Devil's Thumb," 
a so-called landmark of the nearest shore, was 
plainly visible in the clear atmosphere, though 
fifty miles off. We were still in the "pack." 

" What do you make of that ? " said the com- 
mander, addressing Dr. Kane, and directing his 
attention to an object between us and the shore. 
Dr. Kane took the glass De Haven had been 
using, and looked. " A mast, with gaff and main- 
sail partially clewed up," answered Dr. Kane 
decidedly. Both thought that one of the Dan- 
ish schooners had anchored at the edge of the 



Yankee Ice-Fighting. 233 

pack. A more powerful telescope was brought 
up from below and directed toward the schoon- 
er, but it was not there ! It was a trick of re- 
fraction ! . 

The next day we. sighted a polar bear, the first 
which had crossed our track. He was less than a 
half mile off, trotting leisurely, not deigning to 
notice us. Probably he held in low esteem , all 
ships and the savage intruders upon bear territory 
which they contained. We proved that his length 
was nine feet by measuring his tracks. His color, 
as compared with the white snow, seemed a deli- 
cate yellow ; his nose blue-black ; his broad, regu- 
larly arching haunches, resting upon ponderous 
legs, gave him the look of an elephant. 

Of course we gave chase to the bear, with guns 
in hand and murderous intent. The ice being 
weak in places, our zeal was far greater than our 
discretion. We did not get a shot at him in all 
the chase of three hours. Though we did not 
return with the polar, we did return wetter if not 
wiser men, for several of us got repeated duck- 
ings. As to his polar majesty, he never once 
varied from his dignified, unconcerned walk. 
When we last saw him he was in the dim distance 
among hummocks of ice. 

A few days after this incident, as we were wait- 
ing, our men organized foot-races with the crew 
of the " Rescue." We had fancy matches against 
time. Our best runner made his mile in seven 
minutes and eleven seconds. 

While our commander was punching the ice, as 
15 



234 Arctic Heroes. 

he stood upon a projecting point of the floe, it 
gave way and soused him in. He had some diffi- 
culty in getting out. The incident was serious in 
its liabilities, but as " all is well which ends well," 
especially with men in our line of business, we 
laughed at it when safe in the cabin. 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction. 235 



CHAPTER XXL 

FREAKS OF ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION. 

SOON after our first experience in bear-hunt- 
ing, a shout came down the cabin where we 
were sitting, " A bear alongside ! " It proved to 
be a young bear, not more than two-thirds grown. 
He came quite near, and leisurely surveyed the 
brig as he raised himself upon his haunches and 
snuffed the air, as if querying what manner of 
animals we might be. We kept below the bul- 
warks watching his innocent gambols, and, we are 
almost ashamed to say, seeking to reward his con- 
fidence with a bullet, He rubbed his nose against 
a hummock, snapped at the icicles, and rolled over 
and over. He was well within the range of our guns 
at one time, but just as we were about to fire he 
gamboled away, full of the enjoyment of life. We 
felt glad we had not fired, but, of course, we 
chased him, bent on taking his skin, not doubting 
our right to it — if we could get it. But the little 
rascal seemed to think that it belonged to himself, 
and he kept it uninjured. 

On the 28th of July we w r ere in that famous 
water, Melville Bay, in which the whalers as well 
as explorers have always had a dreary voyaging. 
A thrilling incident gave us an emphatic hint 
of what we might expect. We were among the 



236 Arctic Heroes. 

floes, but had entered a narrow channel of clear 
water, which appeared to be a mile long. The 
wind was ahead, and we were engaged in our now 
well-tried business of warping; but huge bergs, 
driven by the strong northern deep-sea current, 
were sailing in the very teeth of the breeze. One 
of them kept us company for some time, and, 
while we were enjoying the clear water of " the 
lead," pushed forward to get ahead of us, and thus 
shut us out of any further advantage of it. This 
exciting race was going on, we having the " Rescue " 
in tow, when we reached a point where, by warping 
round our opponent, we might be able to make sail 
and get rid of him. Three men were sent to plant 
the ice-anchor in his side to hold the warp. The 
hole for it had been cut by the iron crow ; a 
brawny seaman by the name of Costa was in the act 
of lifting the anchor, to settle it into the solid ice, 
when, with a thundering noise, a crack ran along 
the berg. Instantly a mass twice the size of our 
ship separated, from it. One man remained on the 
rolling berg, another jumped into the ropes of our 
bowsprit and escaped ; but poor Costa, anchor 
and all, disappeared in the chasm with the separated 
mass. But the broken fragment had made a per- 
pendicular descent into the sea, and when it rose 
it brought Costa up with it ! He was seized by the 
captain as he was passing the jib-boom" and taken 
safely on board. God's hand was apparent in his 
rescue. Costa was terribly scared, and we were most 
emphatically warned to beware how we attempted 
to put our iron into the heart of an iceberg. 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction. 237 

Five days after this incident we recognized one 
of these bergs which were now racing with us, a 
hundred miles on its northern voyage, still sailing 
against wind and surface ice. 

On the morning of the first of August our friends 
had a successful encounter with a bear. He was 
walking toward the brig, cautiously treading over 
weak ice. Having probably found it too rotten to 
bear his heavy feet, he made a succession of 
plunges, coming each time nearer the vessel, break- 
ing the ice as he rose. He stared about as his 
head came through the ice, as if amazed, and he 
panted and shook the water from his shaggy coat 
like a Newfoundland dog. He seemed to have an 
intense curiosity, and his attempt to gratify it in 
coming near the strangers cost him his life. Several 
well-directed bullets struck him and he turned 
away, weak and bleeding. With much difficulty 
he regained the floe, but it was only to meet a 
bayonet thrust which killed him. 

Three days later three bears were seen on the 
ice which lay between us and the land. We were 
in a lead about three hundred yards wide, and 
while we were getting ready the boats to give them 
chase, they plunged into the water and came 
directly toward us. In two or three minutes they 
were within shot of the boat, coming on with their 
mouths open and showing their teeth, panting as 
if eager for the fight. The captain was the first to 
try his skill as a marksman, but his gun missed 
fire. The second officer, Midshipman Lovell, 
brought his gun up, lodged a ball in the base of 



238 Arctic Heroes. 

the brain of one of the animals, and killed him 
instantly. Dr. Kane reserved his fire for a better 
chance, which did not come. While we were secur- 
ing the dead bear the rest turned back, scrambled 
up the floe, and ran away. 

Just as we reached the deck of the "Advance " 
with our prize, the heavy floe upon the seaward 
side of us began to move in toward the shore ice. 
The two vessels were in the clear water between 
them. The projecting edge of the outside floe 
came in contact with the inward or shore ice, about 
midway between the " Advance " and " Rescue. " 
The assailing floe was nearly four feet thick and a 
mile in diameter. On the enormous mass came, 
with its millions of tons weight, striking the solid 
margin of the land ice with a force which seemed 
sufficient to grind both to powder. But the land ice 
endured the concussion without flinching, while its 
assailant was first pressed together, then crowded 
up in great inclined planes, w T hich rose until broken 
and toppled over in long lines of fragments. The 
immense cakes of ice, as they rose, seemed thrust 
into the air by an almost silent, mighty, and in- 
visible machinery. 

There was a terrific sublimity in all this when 
seen at a safe distance. But when the attacking 
line neared our brig, bringing us between it and 
the unyielding land ice, the sublime was lost in the 
appalling. We expected her sides to be ripped, 
and, perhaps, crushed in, or the whole craft to be 
borne down by the pressure. After a moment's 
painful suspense the crisis came. The floes came 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction. 239 

together, not in a straight line along the whole 
length of our vessel at once, but made an acute 
angle at her bows, out of which she slipped like a 
squeezed watermelon seed shot from your thumb 
and finger. Her hawser snapped like pack-thread, 
and away she shot backward into more sea room. 

The " Rescue " was tipped over so as almost to 
lay her masts on a line with the floe, and then 
placed on her keel again and lifted upon the ice. 
The rudders of both vessels were lifted from their 
places. 

The second day after this encounter with the 
" nip " the wind changed, the surface-current started 
the seaward ice off, the lead opened, and we sought 
a safer berth. 

A few days after the floes had entertained us 
by "nipping," refraction, our ever-welcome friend 
stepped forward with his entertainment. He was 
never more himself nor in a better condition to 
show his wonderful dramatic power. See there, 
just north of the sun ; a black ball floating in the 
air ! it is launched from his hand. What can it be ? 
Perhaps a bird or a balloon. There ! its circumfer- 
ence shines, glistens, and changes its shape ! Now 
we know just what it is ; plainly it is a grand piano ! 
No, not quite so fast with your opinion ; it is an 
anvil ! Right this time ! It is an anvil big enough 
for the giants of the north, if there be any, to 
hammer out upon it the North Pole, or any other 
poles they may fancy. Poh ! it is no longer an 
anvil. It is narrowing in the center, and rounding 
off at the ends. It is a pair of huge dumb-bells, 



240 Arctic Heroes. 

with which the giant gymnasts strengthen their 
brawny arms for a turn at boxing! There, it has 
changed again ! It is nothing but the black ball 
now. 

Our performer now becomes more sober, but 
not less skillful. He operates on a magnificent 
scale ; he has taken the whole horizon. He blends 
the pearly sky and pearly water so that you cannot 
discern the line of separation ! Our ship is'in the 
hollow of a great sphere. Icy shapes of wonderful 
beauty and variety are floating all about us. Birds 
are seen flying both above and below. Our con- 
sort, the " Rescue," rests, in duplicate, serenely in 
the sky! 

On the next night, at ten o'clock, our performer 
again exhibited. The sun was nearly at its lower 
curve. Suddenly there are signs of combustion 
flaring all around him. Great volumes of black 
smoke arise, contracting and expanding in its up- 
ward course, and as it rolls off into space black 
specks rise with it, expand, fall, and disappear ! 
The rarified air above the whole waves and quivers 
with the heat. It is some mighty city in conflagra- 
tion ; some burning Chicago or Boston! No; it 
is only the jugglery of refraction ! 

We were now, August 15, near Cape York, the 
northern boundary of Melville Bay. The " Rescue." 
had lagged astern, though we were in clear water. 
While we were leisurely looking around from our 
deck she gave us the signal of "men in sight." A 
boat was immediately laden with provisions and 
sent to the shore, for, as we were so far north, the 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction. 241 

idea of human beings involuntarily connected itself 
with disaster. But two men were soon seen on the 
shore ice, gesticulating in the most ludicrous and 
violent manner. They were genuine specimens of 
the Esquimo. Though living in this icy, bitter 
cold, and desolate region, they were as fat as the 
bears we had lately killed. They were jolly, laugh- 
ing fellows, full of sociability. They were armed 
with a harpoon, lance, and air-bladder, and had 
been hunting seals. They had no kayak, and 
seemed unacquainted with that convenient article 
of their more southern relatives. They intimated 
that there were more of their people in a valley 
toward which they pointed. They had evidently 
seen ships before, and invited themselves aboard ; 
but the officer of the boat declined the invitation. 
They belonged, we concluded, to the wandering 
fishing and seal-catching Esquimo of this region 
whom John Ross, and, after him, the English navi- 
gators term "Arctic Highlanders." 

A touching incident occurred near this place in 
1830. The seamen of a whaler landed from their 
boat and walked to a group of huts. They ob- 
served as they approached the death-like stillness 
which pervaded the vicinity and the absence of 
recent tracks in the snow. They lifted the skin 
of the door-way and entered. There, around 
an oilless lamp, were the corpses of five human 
beings. The frosty finger of death had left them, 
save the sunken eyes and darkened lips, in the 
attitude and with the expression of life. The 
babe was frozen in the hood of the reindeer coat 



242 Arctic Heroes. 

which enveloped its mother, and the dog was stark 
and stiff at the feet of its master. 

Several other huts exhibited the same melan- 
choly sights. As the implements for seal catch- 
ing lay in the tents, and as that animal abounds in 
the bays, and affords both food and fuel for these 
people, they must have been smitten by a preva- 
lent disease, or their supplies shut off by some ex- 
traordinary occurrence. 

A company from the " Advance " landed in a 
little cove near Cape York. Here we had an op- 
portunity of examining the " red snow " which we 
had seen on the cliffs during our last ten miles' 
sail. Its color was a deep but not bright red. A 
kind of brick-dust lay upon its surface, and other 
portions of its coloring matter was evidently of a 
vegetable origin. It imparted to paper when 
drawn over it a cherry-red which faded into a 
brown. The snow resembled, with the impurities 
it contained, crushed preserved cranberries, and a 
handful thawed in a glass tumbler looked like 
muddy claret wine. 

There was near a beautiful little cove. On one 
side of it was a glacier which came down from its 
valley birthplace above. One side of the glacier 
clung to the cliff, the other side which it presented 
to us was a solid, almost perpendicular, crystal 
wall ; its end descended into the sea. * A stream 
from the valley, which had worn a channel in the 
, glacier, leaped, when it reached the edge of the 
glacier wall, into the sea below in a cascade of 
foam-sparkling water. 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction. 243 

The side of the cove opposite to the glacier was 
watered by misty spray from the cascade, and 
was green with beautiful arctic mosses. It seemed 
a fairy spot in comparison to the barren sight of 
weeks past,, and was indeed a charming spot which 
we could not forget. Dr. Kane named it " Bessie's 
Cove." 

The next day, while sailing leisurely along, we 
saw an indentation in the high, precipitous, rocky 
shore. Into this we warped our vessel, so near 
that we stepped out on the rocks as upon a wharf. 
The sun was at its lowest curve, for it was the mid- 
night hour of four P.M. The cove at the base of 
its walls was in black shadows, but far above it 
was bathed in a sparkling sunlight. A torrent of 
water rushed down the sides, with which we filled 
our tanks for the trip across the North Water into 
which we had now come. 

The slope into the cove at one place was cov- 
ered with terraces of rocky and icy fragments. 
Birds in myriads hovered about it, or settled down 
into its crevices, A party of our men were blazing 
away at them and bagging hundreds. Their nests 
were not all forsaken of their young, and fledglings 
were peering down upon us by thousands and 
opening their mouths for the food their mothers 
were bringing them from the sea. 

Drawn by a wish to study the domestic habits 
of these arctic birds, Dr. Kane clambered up to 
one of their most populous colonies, without duly 
considering how he might get down. As he as- 
cended the sharply inclined plane, with a walking 



244 Arctic Heroes. 

pole substituted for his gun, the fragments re- 
ceded from under his feet, and rushed down with a 
thundering noise to the plain below. He stopped 
to take breath, and was startled to see every thing 
about him in motion. The entire surface seemed 
to be sliding down. The position was one of real 
danger. The masses, gathering swiftness as they 
descended, leaped over the terraces, and filled the 
air with fearful missiles. Some whizzed by his face, 
and others shot over his head, and his walking- 
pole was jerked from his hand and buried in the 
rubbish. He commenced returning, fearing that 
the downward trip might be swifter than was 
pleasant or safe. Seeing a projecting rock not 
far from him, against which the sliding rubbish 
divided into two streams, he made a desperate 
jump and landed upon it. He here waited for 
the troubled fragments to adjust themselves. The 
scene around him was wonderfully original and 
arctic. The sun was " setting into sunrise " near 
the horizon, and the whole atmosphere "was pink 
with light." Auks and ivory gulls screeched with 
deafening clamor around him, sometimes flapping 
their wings almost in his face ; dignified " burgo- 
masters " sat unmoved on the crags above, seem- 
ing to enjoy the embarrassment of the obtrusive 
stranger; while far below, their black forms con- 
trasting with the white snow, two ravens contended 
for a choice bit of garbage. 

Quiet being restored, the doctor descended 
safely, wiser concerning arctic hill-sides if not in 
the habits of arctic birds. 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction, 245 

On the 1 8th of August we turned the bows of 
our ships west, with the waves dancing past us 
and the breeze in our sails. We had accom- 
plished the western passage, and were spanking 
along toward Lancaster Sound. The next morn- 
ing about eight o'clock the pleasant news was 
brought to the cabin from the deck that two ves- 
sels were following in our wake. We slackened 
sail and so did the " Rescue," and hove to near 
us. Soon the larger of the two vessels was along 
side, and her captain came on board. It was 
Penny with his squadron — the " Lady Franklin " 
and the u Sophia "- — bound with us to search for 
the lost. Such a greeting was exchanged as those 
only can give who are bound together by like toils 
and aims. When the " Franklin " started off, again 
there came booming over the sea a hearty old En- 
glish hurra — " three cheers, hearty, with a will." 
Our boys " stood aloft," and gave back the greet- 
ing with vociferous earnestness. 

At eight o'clock the same day we were in Lan- 
caster Sound, groping our way through the fog, 
and staggering under a heavy sea and a tempest 
of wind. A day later, early in the morning, a 
vessel was reported ahead, tugging after her a 
small sailing craft. We shook out our reefs and 
scud before the gale, the sea dashing over us at 
every roll. We soon came up with the stranger. 
It was the " Felix," Sir John Ross commander, 
with her little tender, the " Mary." The hailing 
officer, in the midst of our talk, shouted, " You 
and I are ahead of them all ! " So it was, Penny 



246 Arctic Heroes. 

was astern, and Captain Austin, with his sailing 
ships and steam propellers, was hovering about 
the mouth of the sound. 

Soon Sir John himself came on deck, and stood 
beside his hailing officer. He was a square-built 
man, apparently, but a little stricken in years, and 
well able, as he was willing, to bear his part of the 
rough toil of arctic search. He was in the very 
region where, seventeen years before, he was 
picked up, after four successive winters spent in 
polar snows. 

The next morning we had passed the opening 
into Regent Inlet, and sighted Port Leopold, on 
its north-western side. We were anxiously look- 
ing for a " lead " into the harbor, for the ice beset 
it, when we saw a top-sail schooner working out 
to meet us. Her commander was soon on our 
deck. It was Lady Franklin's own searching 
vessel, the " Prince Albert ! " 

The " Rescue " had gone to Cape Riley, at the 
eastern side of the entrance to Wellington Channel, 
and we pushed forward immediately to that point 
in company with the u Prince Albert." On arriv- 
ing there we learned that Lieutenant Griffin, of 
the " Rescue," had shared with the English steam- 
propeller squadron in the discovery of the evi- 
dence of Sir John Franklin's first winter encamp- 
ment. The commanders, Ross, Penny, and De 
Haven, soon met on board the " Felix " to ar- 
range plans of further search, and the greatest 
harmony of feeling prevailed. Our part was to 
push up Wellington Channel. While these officers 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction, 247 

were in council an excited messenger came run- 
ning over the ice with thrilling news. " Graves ! " 
he shouted. " Graves, sir ! graves of Franklin's 
men ! " We all hurried off to see for ourselves. 

An account of these marks of Franklin's winter- 
quarters has been given by Lieutenant Osborne, 
of the propeller squadron, and we need not repeat 
them. The hint they gave us inspired our zeal 
to obtain further knowledge of his fate. At two 
o'clock in the morning of September 4 we were 
awakened by Captain De Haven to witness the 
rare appearance and movements of the ice. We 
had seen the wonders of the floes, but this was 
the most wonderful. The thickness of some of 
the cakes of ice which had been raised upon 
the floes by their collision was fourteen feet ! 
They were piled in hummocks not seldom forty 
feet high ! We were fast to a great floe by three 
anchors. The wind was blowing a fresh breeze 
from the north, and huge ice rafts, with up-piled 
blocks, far above our heads, were scudding past 
us to the west, under the propelling power of the 
current. They created a decided sensation among 
us as we stood watching them from our deck. 
There comes a monster thirty feet high ! Will he 
smash in our stern ? No, he shies off so near that 
we are fanned by the wind of his crystal sails. 
There comes another whose projecting crags will 
certainly become entangled in our rigging and 
sweep away our masts. No, he too just touches 
us with his frosty fingers, as if forbidden to do 
more, and then swings off into the deeper current. 



248 Arctic Heroes. 

A little projection of the main floe into the chan- 
nel turns them aside as they approach us. How 
plainly do we see in this arrangement the care 
over us of Him who made the sea, and directs all 
that is in it. 

While we were coasting during the day along 
the floe and sighting, the western shore of Welling- 
ton Channel a bear attracted our attention. As 
exciting as such a sight always is, we could not 
stop to chase him. But he was very obliging. 
Instead of striking landward, he plunged into the 
water just ahead of us. Dr. Kane and one other 
of the officers brought their guns to bear at a fair 
range and fired at the same moment. One of the 
bullets went amiss, indicating its course by splash- 
ing in the water just ahead of its mark. The 
other killed the bear outright. The boats were 
got out, and he was brought alongside and with 
difficulty hoisted aboard. He was a monster, 
weighing, we estimated, sixteen hundred pounds. 
He measured nine feet from tip to tip, and his 
carcass was larger than that of an ordinary ox 
when fatted for the market. His build was solid, 
and the muscles of his arms and haunches fear- 
fully developed. 

The question was pleasantly raised, Whose 
bullet hit ? It was found that the one which had 
done the murderous deed had entered the ear 
and lodged in the brain. This was weighed and 
proved to belong to Dr. Kane's gun. It was his 
first bear ! He skinned him on deck the next 
morning with the thermometer below zero. This 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction. 249 

skin is now in the rooms of the Academy of Nat- 
ural Science at Philadelphia. 

Our game was at this time two bears, three 
seals, a single goose, and a fair table allowance of 
smaller sea-fowl. The goose was killed by officer 
Murdaugh, on the wing, with a rifle. The " Res- 
cue " boasts of four bears, two hares, and ar supply 
of smaller game. It must be recollected that our 
hunting was not systematically done, but was only 
incidental to our other absorbing business. 

On the eleventh of September all the searching 
vessels except Penny's were clinging by their 
anchors to the fast ice near Griffith Island. The 
next day we had a fearful experience. The wind 
blew a gale, driving before it clouds of heavy 
snow. The " Rescue ,l snapped her hawsers and 
disappeared to the seaward, leaving two men, her 
boat, and her ice-anchors behind. The " Ad- 
vance " snapped her stern cable, lost her anchor 
and swung out, but she fortunately held by the 
forward line. The English squadron parted some 
of their hawsers, and were in momentary danger 
of coming down upon us. The wind roared, and 
poured upon us its sleet and snow, and every thing 
about the vessel froze. To add to the terrible- 
ness of our situation, the main floe threatened to 
part, and carry us away with the liberated ice, 
with our running rigging so ice-encumbered as to 
make the working of the vessel impossible. We 
are at sea, some distance from the shore, whose 
harbors are unknown to us, even if the wind and 
ice permitted us to seek one. We see signs of 
16 



250 Arctic Heroes. 

cheerful fires on board the English vessels. We 
yet have none. About noon the whole fleet, hav- 
ing knocked off the ice as best it could, got under 
way for Griffith Island, from which we had drifted 
about fifteen miles. We were in anxious search 
for our lost consort. We were staggering under 
all sail** running for our lives, striking the ice with 
our seven and a half solid feet bows, with such 
fearful blows that our vessel quivered like a leaf. 
While thus struggling, we came in sight of the 
" Rescue " close under the island. We at once 
drove our hard-headed little brig into the inter- 
vening ice, determined to lay alongside of her. 
She nobly thumped her way through, the English 
following " the mad Yankees." 

No sooner had we thus opened a channel to the 
" Rescue " than orders were given by Captain De 
Haven to both vessels to bear away for home ! 
All regretted this, but so the home authorities had 
commanded. We were not to spend the winter in 
the ice unless under very extraordinary circum- 
stances such as were not now upon us. We 
parted with our fellow-explorers with sincere 
regret. Only courtesies and hearty good-will had 
been received from them, and many lasting friend- 
ships had been formed. Some of our officers pro- 
posed exchanging places with any of theirs who 
might desire to return home ; but none such were 
found. Our captain tendered them a part of our 
supply of provisions, and a point on the shore was 
agreed upon on which, if we were able to land, 
we were to make a deposit. 



Freaks of Atmospheric Refraction. 251 

In a short time we had the " Rescue " in tow 
steering westward. 

As we were passing a curve of the coast soon 
after, thecaptain called Dr. Kane's attention to the 
shore-line six miles off. He looked, and saw the 
naked spars of two vessels. " Brigs," says Kane. 
"Without doubt," replies De Haven. Both at 
once exclaimed, "Penny!" On taking a glass, 
the masts, yards, gaffs, every thing but the bow- 
sprit, were distinctly seen. Officer Lovell was 
called and saw the same. Murdaugh hurries up, 
half dressed, from the cabin, takes a good spyglass 
and looks. He sees a third vessel. The rest 
look, all see the third one and pronounce it the 
" Felix "—old Sir John Ross. 

We change our course, and run in to speak 
with them. A fog settles down between us, but 
still we keep on. The fog in a few moments 
clears away, there is only three miles between us 
and them. We look, there is not a vessel to be 
seen! We take a powerful glass, and see only 
some hummocks of ice ! We were " sold " again 
by that polar cheat, refraction. We were reluc- 
tant to accept the joke, and went musing and mur- 
muring away, saying : " How could we be so de- 
ceived ! " 

Soon after this the captain shouted down the 
cabin stairs : " Doctor, we are frozen up ! " Yes, 
we w.ere frozen up in mid-channel, at the mouth 
of the great Wellington Channel ! What now 
about our going home ! how about not wintering 
in the ice ! ! 



252 Arctic Heroes. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DE HAVEN'S WONDERFUL DRIFT. 

THE ice-island which had thrown its frosty 
arms around our ships as we were attempt- 
ing to pass the entrance of Wellington Channel 
held them firmly. Up the channel northward it 
hurried with us. In vain we entreated and pro- 
tested that we desired to go east, not north ! Our 
island was fiercely assailed at times by heavy 
floes, now making their attacks on this side, then 
on that, and occasionally on both sides at once. 
At one time the ice near our ship, pressed by a 
fearful power, cracked ; its outer edge of fourteen 
inches of solid ice turned up and rose in great 
tables, high in the air, until by its weight it 
toppled over. This was followed by other tables, 
sliding up the broken fragments of the last, so 
forming heavy piles of ice rubbish, which after a 
while would sink into the sea. 

While thus the floes were toying with us, and at 
times seeming intent on crushing us, the current 
would occasionally swing us round through all the 
points of the compass, giving us quite a sail south, 
as if to flatter us with the hope of the homeward 
voyage, while yet we were making daily advance 
northward. 

The collision of the floes at this time gave us 



De Haven \s Wonderful Drift. 253 

our first sight of a phenomenon of which other 
explorers have spoken. When in the darkness of 
the night the great ice- tables were hurled upon 
each other, a phosphorescent light was emitted, like 
that of fire-flies, or the " fox fire " of southern 
meadows. It was very beautiful. 

At the end of our first week of drifting we had 
made sixty miles from the entrance of the channel, 
and still we headed northward. 

One day a black fox came near our vessel, 
nimbly skipping from hummock to hummock. 
He looked cheerful, but desolate, away, as he was, 
seven miles from the nearest land — a land look- 
ing a*s dreary as the ice-fields themselves. Our 
sailors set a trap for him. In the night we heard 
his bark, and were sure he would be their prize in 
the morning. But Dr. Kane, having killed a seal 
the day before, and pitying the little wanderer, 
had crept slyly out and put some of the offal, quite 
a pile, outside of the snare. Fox had a splendid 
supper without pay or penalty, and went on his 
way rejoicing. 

We try to be merry as we drift away into the 
unknown north. The " Rescue " was all the while 
fixed in the ice near us. We began to think of the 
necessity of wintering thus bound in arctic fetters. 
The ice about our ships was adjusted to our con- 
venience. We began to put some tons of the 
coal from our hold. The boats were drawn about 
twenty paces from the bow, and all hands were 
at work getting ready the deck to be covered in 
by "a felt" we had brought for the purpose. 



254 Arctic Heroes. 

Two officers had been sent to the shore to 
select a place for a provision depot. But, whew ! 
what a noise the floes suddenly made, as if indig- 
nant that their permission had not been asked 
before entering upon the arrangements. Their 
mustering forces hummed like bees and whined like 
puppies, while now and then came crashes like an 
avalanche and explosions like thunder. The land 
party hurried back in breathless haste. All hands 
rushed for the boats and stores we had transferred 
to the floe. Before dark all was on board except 
about two tons of coal, and the ice was in motion 
in every direction. Our little cabin had been 
cheerless enough. Every thing dripped with 
steam, and was damp and cold. "A Cornelius 
Lard Lamp " had been hung up and put in opera- 
tion in the middle of September, and afforded 
great relief. Our stove was not up until the 19th. 
Now, October 2, we were surrounded by an arctic 
frost-smoke, which made the darkness without 
murky, waving — a peculiar, unnatural darkness. 
The light and heat within, though poor, were 
strangely welcome. 

The ice soon knit together again, the frost-smoke 
lifted up, and its felt darkness disappeared. Dr. 
Kane went out, gun in hand, and sat down, Es- 
quimo-like, by a seal-hole. With the thermometer 
io° below zero, and the necessity of perfect stillness 
to assure success, it was no fun. One tedious 
hour he waited ; some young seals appeared, he 
fired, missed, and they darted away. Another 
hour and they came again. Lie says : " Very 



De Haven's Wonderful Drift. 255 

strange are these seals ! A countenance between 
the dog and wild African ape — an expression so 
like that of humanity that it makes gun-murderers 
hesitate. At last, at long shot, I hit one. God 
forgive me ! The ball did not kill outright. It 
was out of range, struck too low, and entered the 
lungs. The poor beast had risen breast high out 
of water, like the treading- water swimmers among 
ourselves. He was thus supported, looking about 
with curious, expectant eyes, when the ball struck 
his lungs. 

" For a moment he oozed a little bright blood 
from his mouth, and looked toward me with a sort 
of startled reproachfulness. Then he dipped ; an 
instant after he came up still nearer, looked again, 
bled again, and went down. A half instant after 
he came up flurriedly, looked about with anguish in 
his eyes, for he was quite near me ; but slowly he 
sunk, struggling feebly, rose again, sunk again, 
struggled a very little more. The thing was 
drowning in the element of his sportive revels. 
He did drown finally, and sunk ; so I lost him 

" Have naturalists ever noticed the expression 
on this animal's phiz ? Curiosity, contentment, 
pain, reproach, despair, even resignation, I thought 
I saw on this seal's face. 

" About half an hour afterward I killed another. 
Scurvy and sea-life craving for flesh meat led me 
to it ; but I shot him dead ! " 

A fox was caught about the same time. We 
ate of fox and seal and pronounced them good. 

Sunday, October 6, was a dismal day. We 



256 Arctic Heroes. 

were fast in a huge cake of ice, driving southward 
before a furious gale. Away we sped, onward, 
onward for two days, during which we made sixty 
miles, reached the outlet of Wellington Channel, 
from which we had been violently dragged. 

While thus beating about we caught a white fox 
alive. He resented the chains of spun-yarn and 
leather which bound him, but always had com- 
posure enough for picking the meat from the 
bones which were thrown to him and for eating 
snow ; he would not touch water. His cry resem- 
bled that of a small boy undergoing a spanking ; 
its tones expressed not only fear and pain, but 
spite and ill-temper. He soon, however, became 
good-natured. He would eat from our hands the 
next day. Twice he was set at liberty, but he re- 
turned both times to our trap a few hours after his 
liberation. 

These white foxes seemed to have no instinctive 
fear of man. They approached the ship's side 
with more curiosity than fear. If we fired deadly 
shot among them they scampered off but for a mo- 
ment and returned. When we went out to them 
on the ice we were allowed almost to touch them 
with our hands. If we shouted they ran round us 
in a narrow circle, stopped and stared when we 
were still. One little fellow was caught, put in a 
box on deck, fed for a few days, and liberated. 
He scampered away a few rods, stopped, con- 
sidered, and returned to his cubby on deck. 

Being for three weeks detained at the fickle 
will of our ice-raft about Wellington Strait, Dr t 



De Haven y s Wonderful Drift. 257 

Kane put into effect his long-meditated attempt to 
communicate with the English fleet at Union Bay, 
where we had left them. After facing appalling 
dangers, and making repeated trials, the enterprise 
was reluctantly abandoned. 

It was now the eighth of November, and our 
winter-quarters, such as they were, were com- 
pleted. The deck had its covering of felt drawn 
down to the sides of the vessel. The room occu- 
pied by the seamen and that of the officers was 
made one by knocking away the cabin partition, 
the two stoves thus warming all alike. The offi- 
cers and men of the " Rescue " had been ordered 
on board the " Advance," and we made one fam- 
ily. We banked up the sides of the vessel with 
snow, up to the felt, thus increasing our defense 
against the cold. Thus prepared, we could only 
wait the will of our crystal raft. 

To occupy the minds of the men profitably 
during the slowly-moving days, Dr. Kane gave a 
series of popular lectures on science. They were 
well received. 

During the latter part of November our ice- 
land had enlarged its dimensions to a floe of 
several square miles, and this great raft had 
swung round, putting its sharp end toward the 
south, and giving indications of conducting us on 
our homeward voyage. But we commenced 
December cradled again on a paltry little island, 
the " Rescue " still near us. Away we drifted, 
the sport of contending floes which threatened 
hourly to sink or crush us. At times our island 



258 Arctic Heroes. 

was not more than three hundred yards in diam- 
eter, yet it held us in its grip. The floes would 
batter and crack it, let our vessels down, lift them 
up, change their position, but always closing them 
up again and insuring their imprisonment. Our 
liability of being witnesses of the sinking or crush- 
ing of the vessels was so imminent that we lived 
in a studied preparation to abandon them. Mr. 
Griffin, commander of the " Rescue," was ap- 
pointed as the executive officer to organize and 
drill the united crews in reference to such an 
emergency. He mustered them upon the ice 
with knapsacks fitted to their backs, filled with 
such indispensable articles as they would carry, 
and every man harnessed to his appointed sledge 
in due order. Provisions are all packed, and 
stores of all kinds put in compact order and duly 
marked. The men are taught every one his 
place, and specific duty, at the instant of the 
crisis. The little home Bibles and precious me- 
mentos were slyly tucked in the knapsacks. 

The coolness of the men under these circum- 
stances is well illustrated by the following inci- 
dent : The " Advance " had been lifted upon the 
ice and so far laid upon her side that orders were 
given to abandon her, as it was likely she would 
be thrown upon her beam ends. As we stood 
upon the ice, thinking all were out, Boatswain 
Brooks shouted, " Stand from under," as the craft 
vibrated with the pressure upon her. Just then 
an officer, recollecting that the fires in the stoves 
had not been put out, and that they would set the 



De Haven's Wonderful Drift. 259 

vessel on fire, and thus insure the loss of every- 
thing, climbed back into the hold. There at the 
mess-table sat an officer who had been a few mo- 
ments before relieved from watch-duty quietly 
eating his dinner, and the cook as quietly waiting 
upon him. " You see," remarked the hungry man, 
"you are one meal ahead of me. You didn't 
think I was going out upon the ice without my din- 
ner?" Captain De Haven, in his official report, 
mentions the gallantry and unflinching bravery of 
all the officers, and the good conduct and subordi- 
nation of the men in this and all such perils. 

But our vessel righted up a little, her bows 
sunk low^in the ice, and her stern lifted up, mak- 
ing an inclined plane of the deck from the stern 
forward. Thus she was much raked by the 
wind greatly to our discomfort, as we felt the cold 
through her sides, now no longer banked with 
snow. In this truly arctic position we drifted 
steadily along the north shore of Lancaster Sound, 
and began already to anticipate our rush into the 
cross current of Baffin Bay. 

To be further prepared for the impending crisis, 
some of us tried tramps on the ice-floe, and camp- 
ing out, in tents and sleeping-bags. The experi- 
ment did not give cheering promise of any good 
time to come when the ships should be destroyed. 

A poor bear ventured one night near the vessel. 
An officer fired at his retreating shadow. The 
next morning he was found dead some three hun- 
dred yards from the ship. He was wedged be- 
tween two cakes of ice, and had in his agony 



260 Arctic Heroes. 

rubbed his muzzle deep into the frozen snow. In 
his death-march he had twice stopped to lie down, 
marking each spot with pools of blood. 

A poor little fox fell, too, before our sharp- 
shooters. We pitied the beasts, struggling to live 
in this waste, howling, arctic wilderness, but they 
were eaten most joyously. 

The effect of our isolated condition, and the 
ever present darkness, rendered more intense by 
a nightly, hazy obscurity, began to be apparent in 
our physical and moral condition. Our com- 
plexions were toned down to a peculiar waxy 
paleness. Sunken eyes, strangely clear, hollow 
cheeks and short breaths became general. Ap- 
petites changed, became capricious and slight. 
Many became moody, irritable, and imaginative. 
Dreams invested our sleep, and were fondly talked 
about when we were awake. Some, while in 
dreamland, had laden themselves with luscious 
water-melons with which to return on shipboard. 
Others had found Sir John Franklin in a beautiful 
cove, whose air was perfumed with blossoming 
orange trees. Our hard-fisted matter-of-fact boat- 
swain heard three strange groans out upon the 
ice. He was sure of it, though he could see noth- 
ing. The scurvy had touched several lightly, and 
they were put under careful and stringent medical 
treatment. 

Christmas came. We paraded our good things, 
of which we had some store. We joked, but did 
it badly ; we laughed incessantly, but our laugh- 
ing was bad, too ; we sung, but our songs were 



De Haven's Wonderful Drift. 261 

boisterously noisy, with neither time, tune, nor 
harmony. 

The dinner being a pretentious failure, the men 
tried a theater. It was on deck under our canopy. 
The acting was funny, and we laughed. None 
knew their parts. The prompters could not read 
glibly enough to be of any service. The gentle- 
women were brawny, blundering men, dressed in 
calico. The intervals of the orchestra were played 
on a Jew's-harp by a comic fellow from the top of 
a lard cask. 

We had foot-races on the midnight ice. 

Nor were the kindly Christmas gifts forgotten. 
Dr. Kane found in his stocking in the morning a 
jackknife, a Jew's-harp, a piece of Castile-soap, 
and a string of beads. 

The effort exhibited in these performances to 
throw off the mental and moral, as well as physical 
distempers induced by darkness, cold, and dan- 
gers, was necessary, whether this was the best 
way to do it or not. The officers, with the su- 
perior resources of culture, needed them less than 
the men. In fact, in the cabin, in all these peril- 
ous, gloomy days, an honest courtesy toward one 
another was preserved, whatever of brooding 
home-thoughts and inward forebodings of evil 
were indulged. 

With the men it was different. The wild voices 
of the ice and wind ; the strange sounds which 
issued from the ship ; the sudden terrific rupture 
in the darkness, and without apparent cause, of the 
hummocks ; the cracks, and the dark-rushing 



262 Arctic Heroes. 

water that filled them, and the wonder-working 
freaks of refraction, all stimulated, sickened, and 
oppressed their imagination — they were for the 
forecastle a day and nightmare dream full of 
horrors ! 

We are now near the new year of 1851. We 
are in sight of Cape Warrender, the great entering 
landmark of the northern shores of Lancaster 
Sound. We are only a few hours of favorable 
sailing from Baffin Bay, and only twenty-four from 
Greenland. We have averaged for ten days about 
five miles a day. We shall soon meet the cross 
current of the great bay as it strikes that which 
rushes out of the sound, and then will our situa- 
tion be more critical perhaps than ever. Our 
trust is in God. 

The new year, 1851, came in gloomily in spite 
of an extra dinner and efforts to be merry. By the 
middle of January we noticed the unmistakable 
evidence that we were in Baffin Bay. Our knap- 
sacks, sledges, India-rubber boat, and general 
" traveling outfit," were in momentary readiness. 
We put the frozen bear meat and some barrels of 
bread on the floe for the emergency. But a sud- 
den rupture of the ice swept them all away. So 
after that we kept in readiness our stock of provis- 
ions intended for the sledges on deck. 

On the second of February the full disk of the 
sun appeared at a quarter before eleven. Al- 
though he rose but to set, yet the stream of light 
which heralded his coming and that which lin- 
gered after his departure, as well as his pres- 



De Haven y s Wonderful Drift. 263 

ence, cheered every heart, and sent new life 
through the ship. We knew he would tarry longer 
at each coming until he came to stay. 

Sirius, no pale dog-star in these arctic regions, 
is resplendent in beauty. As it rises from its 
banked horizon the fun-loving refraction plays 
with it nightly freaks. Its colors are blue, crim- 
son, and white. Now its shape is oval, now hour-, 
glass, and then square. It goes out into blank- 
darkness, and then flashes into life. It plays the 
revolving light, as if it would attract and then 
evade our notice. Beautiful, solacing, hope-in- 
spiring Sirius ! Welcome observer of our dreary 
voyage ! 

To-day, the 25th of February, Dr. Kane caught, 
in his reindeer hood, a bug ! Its sole sign of life 
was a feeble wriggle. Nothing which shares our 
principle of vitality, save a seal and a fox, has 
greeted us for months. The hardy sea-fowls are 
far away. Even the raven, that dismal croaker, 
dark bird of even arctic winter, clings to the dis- 
tant in-shore deserts. " The terns are gone, and 
so are the musquitoes ! There are no bugs in the 
blankets, no nits in the hair, no maggots in the 
cheese ! No specks of life glitter in the sunshine, 
no sounds of it float upon the air. We are without 
a single instinct of living -thing ! " 

It was now early spring. We felt that our icy 
bonds must soon be loosened, and that we should 
want both ships in the best possible repair. The 
" Rescue " had been handled with especial sever- 
ity ; her stern-post was battered away, her bow- 



264 Arctic Heroes. 

sprit knocked off, and her bottom roughly beaten. 
Our men made out of her ice-bed a dry dock ! 
They dug a pit about her within eighteen inches 
of the bottom of her keel, thus giving clear access 
to her bottom. In three days of hard and earnest 
work she was in good condition, ready for the 
word of command from her gallant captain. 

From this time onward hope grew stronger 
with us, with the increasing length of the day- 
light and the increasing signs of spring. The 
birds came and greeted us with their harsh but 
welcome notes. Seals thrust their heads through 
the ice and played in the pools of water, often to 
their sorrow, as the fatal bullet pierced them, but 
to the joy of our scurvy-smitten men. The curious 
narwhals puffed and snorted in the water open- 
ings. Our old friend, the bear, whom we had so 
often loved, even unto his death, afforded us oc- 
casion for several exciting and perilous incidents. 

On the 24th of April the officers and crew of 
the " Rescue " were ordered to their own ship. 
She had been put in good internal trim, and the 
fires had blazed in her stoves for several days. 

June opened refreshingly. The air was warm, 
the breeze agreeable. The snow-birds in increas- 
ing numbers visited our deck, and delighted us 
with their sweet jargon. They are confiding little 
creatures, approaching our very feet. 

Open water is in view from the top of a high 
hummock, and is rapidly coming nearer. 

On the 5th the long-waited-for break up came. 
A grand swell of the sea under the ice caused it 



De Haven 's Wonderful Drift, 265 

to rise and fall in great waves. The disruption 
came suddenly, and with terrific force. It shat- 
tered our ice-raft as window-glass was shattered 
by the careless balls of our boyhood. But a heavy 
fragment clung to our stern for three days, in 
which it was cradled, holding it several feet out 
of water, and keeping our deck in its old inclined 
plane. We thrust at it, drilled and sawed it, until 
at last it slipped away, and we were on an even 
keel ! For five days from the disruption we 
fought our way slowly through heavy floating ice. 
On the 10th, with a great sea, a press of sail, and 
a spanking breeze, we bore away for Greenland. 
The next morning its shores were in sight. 

How wonderful had been our escape from fatal 
accidents at the moment of breaking up. Dr. 
Kane had been in the habit of taking long and 
solitary walks upon the ice, miles from the ship. 
He had greased his boots for a walk a few hours 
before the change, and would have been off but 
for an absorbing interest in a book he was reading. 

The commander of the " Rescue " was on board 
the " Advance " when the shock which unfettered 
us came. He rushed homeward, leaping the ice- 
cracks, which opened immediately behind him 
in impassable chasms, reached his deck safely, and 
waved us an adieu. 

How wonderful, too, had been our drift ! con- 
tinuing through nearly nine months of time, and 
more than a thousand miles of distance ! Yet we 
were safe, and, though scurvy-smitten, ready to 
renew the fight, along the western coast of Green- 
17 ■ 



266 Arctic Heroes. 

land — the old, perilous track — into the north 
water, through Lancaster Sound and Barrow 
Strait, up Wellington Channel, and thus renew and 
finish the search for Franklin! All this we at- 
tempted to do ! We fought ice and cold again 
until August 19, reaching North Baffin Bay. Here, 
crippled, scurvy-ridden, and baffled at every turn, 
the game of another Wellington Channel search 
played out! We could honorably show the white 
feather and turn toward New York, where we 
arrived September 30, 185 1, and were welcomed 
on the pier by pur noble friend, Henry Grinnell. 



The North-west Passage Discovei'ed. 267 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE DISCOVERED. 

THE English fleet, whose career we have 
noticed, sailing under Austin, Sir John Ross, 
and Penny, returned home, as we have seen, the 
same fall in which De Haven reached New York. 
But other explorers were still in the arctic ice. 
Let us glance at their history. 

The well-tried and splendidly equipped ships, 
" Enterprise "and "Investigator," were dispatched 
to Bering Strait, starting January 10, 1850. It 
was commanded by Captain Richard Collinson, 
in the " Enterprise," Captain Robert M'Clure 
commanding in the "Investigator." They were 
commissioned to find Sir John Franklin, and, by 
sailing from the Pacific easterly to the Atlantic, 
to prove the north-west passage. The ships were 
separated before reaching Bering Strait, and did 
not again meet. We shall give the story of 
M'Clure, as his voyage was one of deeply inter- 
esting results. 

It will be recollected that no ship had sailed far 
into the ice from this point. But boat and sledge 
parties from various points had explored great 
distances along the coast. M'Clure met the 
M Plover " at the edge of the ice-field, which had 
been stationed there with supplies ; he also fell in 



268 Arctic Heroes. 

with the " Herald," which came annually to renew 
ihe provisions of the " Plover." From these he 
received three additional men and additions to 
his stores, and then plunged into the ice. He 
thus devoutly notes this fact in his journal : " I 
consider that we have said adieu to the world for 
the next two years. May that arm which has con- 
ducted us so far in safety still continue in protec- 
tion upon a service where all else is weakness 
indeed ! " 

While fighting the ice they were entertained by 
herds of walruses, some of which weighed, they 
thought, thirty-five hundred pounds. The moth- 
ers were attended by their babies. The sports- 
men immediately seized their guns to send the 
fatal bullets among them. But so tender did the 
mothers seem toward their great babes, and so 
playful and confiding were these offspring, that 
M'Clure waved his hand authoritatively, saying: 
" Don't fire, men! it's too bad!" and none were 
killed. 

The next incident of interest was the meeting 
of three Esquimo by a boat's crew which had 
gone ashore. They were very timid, having never 
seen ships or white men before. M'Clure had 
taken a Moravian by the name of Mierching as an 
interpreter, who had been many years a mission- 
ary to the Esquimo of Labrador. He succeeded 
in allaying their fears, and when the parties had 
rubbed noses good feeling was established, The 
captain gave them letters to be delivered to any 
white men they might meet, containing dispatches 



The North-west Passage Discovered. 269 

to the home authorities. These letters reached 
their destination, though not until later informa- 
tion from the expedition had come to hand from 
another source. 

Later they had Esquimo visitors in great num- 
bers, who came off to the ships in their kayaks. 
When they had examined the ship and their curi- 
osity was somewhat satisfied, they commenced an 
animated trade. They had salmon to sell, and were 
especially desirous to obtain tobacco. Seeing the 
sailors cut this article up before trading, a new 
thought seemed to be suggested to the natives, 
which run in this wise : These strangers cut up 
the tobacco to get much for a small piece. Why 
not cut our fish up ! So at it they went, cutting 
up the salmon until prevented by the white men. 

Stealing was an easy accomplishment of the 
Esquimo along this coast as well as elsewhere. 
While Captain M'Clure was putting a present into 
the right hand of a chief he felt his left robbing 
his pocket. On being exposed the chief laughed, 
and all his people laughed, esteeming it a good 
joke ; and so much did they seem to enjoy it that 
the white men laughed too. 

The farther the explorers sailed east the more 
shy and hostile the natives were. This was owing, 
it was thought, to the fights constantly going on 
between them and the wandering Indians who 
visited their coast, and begat in them a bad tem- 
per. But Mr. Mierching always succeeded in 
bringing them to the nose rubbing, after which 
matters went smoothly. In one case a brawny 



270 Arctic Heroes. 

chief was immensely pleased with some gaudy 
gifts. Connecting his good luck with Mr. Mier- 
ching, he endeavored to bribe him to make his 
home among them. To succeed in this he brought 
forward a blooming young daughter, and offered 
her in marriage. He even promised to throw in, 
to enhance the bargain, a tent and " fixings." He 
was most crestfallen because his offer was refused. 

By the usual sawing, smashing, dodging in and 
out of leads, going back and then forward, Cap- 
tain M'Clure found, by observations taken on the 
ninth of September, that he was only sixty miles 
from a point in Barrow Strait to which several 
explorers had sailed from Lancaster Sound. He 
writes : " Can it be possible that this water com- 
municates with Barrow Strait, and shall prove the 
long-sought north-west passage ! Can it be that 
so humble a creature as I am will be permitted to 
perform what has baffled the talented and wise for 
hundreds of years 1 But all praise be ascribed 
unto Him who has conducted us so far in safety ! 
His ways are not our ways, nor the means he uses 
within our comprehension. The wisdom of the 
world is foolishness with Him. , ' 

They were now in Prince of Wales Strait, and, 
on the sixteenth, were within thirty miles of open 
sea, through which they hoped to dash, and soon 
reach the familiar waters of Lancaster Sound, 
Baffin Bay, the Atlantic, and the English Channel, 
where, with " north-west passage accomplished " 
inscribed on their flag, wealth and fame awaited 
them ! Please do, your Majesty of the Ice Seep- 



The North-west Passage Discovered. 27 1 

ter, grant us the small favor of a few weeks of clear 
sailing ! Bul^ his majesty waved his scepter in 
grim defiance, closed the leads, chained the 
" Investigator " to an icy raft, and set her back 
twenty-four miles in three days ! Here, after 
harassing anxiety, many nips, frequent threats of 
sinking and crushing, the " Investigator " was fast 
in the floe for winter. 

On the twenty-sixth of October M'Clure made 
a sledge journey, with a party of his men, toward. 
Melville Island. After much toil and the usual 
perils the water was discovered, from the top of a 
hill six hundred feet above the sea, which washed 
its shores. He had seen the north-west passage. 
From a point of land upon which he was looking, 
Parry, thirty years before, had sailed home through 
Baffin Bay. 

In returning M'Clure came near perishing. 
Having seen some bearings ahead from which he 
felt confident he could make the ship, he started 
off ahead of his men, thinking to get ready for 
them a good supper on their arrival. When within 
six miles of the ship night shut in, at the same 
time a mist obscured every thing, which was fol- 
lowed by a fierce storm of blinding snow. He 
climbed upon a hummock of ice whose elevated 
flat top would give, he thought, a good position to 
see the lights of his men if they passed, or of the 
ship, if the mist cleared away. After waiting an 
hour he saw the glare through the mist of a blue 
light. He fired to attract attention. Waiting a 
little and perceiving no signs of approaching men, 



272 Arctic Heroes. 

he fired his only remaining charge of powder. 
He listened, hoping the ship would answer, but no 
cheering response broke the gloom. Once more 
the blue light of the sledge party dimly flashed 
through the mist, now at a greater distance, and 
then his hope from them vanished. Two more 
hours passed ; he then, in fumbling in his pocket 
found a single lucifer match. With this he en- 
deavored to see the face of his pocket-compass, 
but it fizzed out and left him in total darkness. 
It was half-past eight o'clock and there were 
eleven more hours of darkness; the cold was 15 
below zero, bears were prowling about, and he 
was without a charge for his gun. He hoped that 
the sledge party would reach the ship, and, finding 
he had not come in, search would be made and 
help arrive. He walked to and fro upon the 
hummock until he thought it was about eleven 
o'clock, and then that hope fled. Slipping down 
from his slab of ice he landed under its lee in a bed 
of soft, dry snow. Being thoroughly tired, he fell 
asleep and slept soundly. It was.^a sleep like that 
into which many under such circumstances have 
fallen, to be followed by the sleep of death. But 
M'Clure awoke refreshed, and opened his eyes 
upon a sky glittering with stars and illuminated 
with the aurora borealis. He could see no ship, 
and so he stumbled about among the hummocks 
for several more hours. When the daylight ap- 
peared he had the mortification to see that he 
passed near the ship in the night, and walked 
away from it nearly four miles. 



The North-west Passage Discovered. .273 

Returning, he reached the " Investigator " weary 
and hungry, but not otherwise the worse for a 
night in the snow in 73 north latitude. The 
sledge arrived a few hours later all right. 

While M'Clure was absent, his men left with the 
ship had been grandly successful in hunting. An 
attack on a herd of musk-oxen had brought down 
three bulls, a cow, and a calf. These gave twelve 
hundred and ninety-six pounds of solid meat. 
The land explorers down the Mackenzie, of an 
earlier date, esteemed musk-ox an offense to the 
stomach as well as the nose. But probably they 
were not so hungry for fresh meat as was M'Clure's 
men. 

When the spring of 1851 came, wide ranges of 
country, both sea and land, were surveyed by 
sledge- parties. They gave occasion for many in- 
cidents of great peril and wonderful deliverance, 
which we cannot detail. While one party were 
hunting and camping in a tent, a hunter returned 
tired and chilled to within a rod or two of the 
tent door. Here he was found, every muscle rigid 
as he lay stretched upon the snow, his mouth 
open, and his eyes set in his head. But for the 
providential going out of one of the occupants of 
the tent, he would have been, in a short time, 
dead. Faithful and judicious treatment brought 
him to life. He said that though he remembers 
seeing the tent door, he was so irresistibly im- 
pelled to sleep that he lay down to indulge in a 
nap. 

At another time a negro having wounded a 



274 Arctic Heroes. 

deer, followed it to a great distance. In return- 
ing he fell down exhausted and sleepy. No en- 
treaties nor shakings of Sergeant Woon, who ac- 
companied him, could excite the least ambition to 
get up and walk. Though the negro was a large, 
heavy man, Woon strapped his gun, with which 
he dare not part, to his back, took his arms over 
his shoulder and heroically started for the ships, 
many miles distance. At times he obtained relief 
by sliding his load ahead down the hummocks. 
He dare not leave him a moment as wolves were 
prowling around. When within a mile of the ship 
he became utterly exhausted, and unable to carry 
him another step. Laying down the poor fellow, 
he hastened to the vessel and obtained help. The 
man was safely borne to the care of the surgeon, 
under whose treatment he was in a few days all 
right. 

This Sergeant Woon of the marines was a brave, 
self-possessed hunter. Being out on one occasion 
pursuing a wounded deer, he was suddenly con- 
fronted by two musk-bulls. Like all kine of their 
sex they were full of fight, but would have been 
content perhaps to be let alone. But Woon, 
though he had but one bullet, put it into one of 
them. Wounded and maddened, he turned upon 
his assailant. As he approached he received the 
" worm " from the sergeant's gun. This caused a 
pause, which he improved by reloading and using 
the iron ramrod for a missile. The bull by this time 
was within a few feet of his foe, with his nose to 
the ground, out of which poured a stream of blood, 



The North-west Passage Discovered. 275 

to return in his way the sergeant's complimentary 
salutations. But the ramrod was too quick and too 
much for him. It entered behind his left shoulder, 
passed through his heart, and came out at the right 
flank. 

The sergeant returned to the ship and reported 
venison and beef in temporary storage upon the 
ice for the ship's use. 

It was late in the summer of 1851 before the 
" Investigator's " ice-fetters were loosened, and 
then, instead of sailing north, she was treated to 
an ice-bound drift twenty-five miles south. Giv- 
ing up the hope of getting to Melville Island 
through the channel in which they had wintered, 
M'Clure sailed south, around Bank Land, up 
its western side, and, by hard fighting and nipping, 
sailed round its northern extremity into Melville 
Strait, thus actually reaching the water which 
made the navigable highway home by the eastern 
route. The open water of this highway was within 
the range of a moderate sledge-journey. Of all 
arctic tantalizing that which this expedition now 
suffered seemed to be the most exquisite. The 
prize was lying at their feet — a prize sought 
for more than two hundred years but not found — 
while their hands were pinioned behind them ! 

M'Clure, seeing his vessel immovably frozen in, 
prepared for winter, and, thankful to be alive, 
called the bay in which they were detained the 
Bay of Mercy. 

The expedition was put upon short rations, in 
view of a probable stay in the ice a third winter. 



276 Arctic Heroes. 

But game abounded, musk-ox, deer, foxes, and 
wolves being plenty. The wolves in the long 
dark nights, impelled by hunger, came around the 
ship and made the hideous night more hideous 
by their howlings. Ravens audaciously made the 
family of the strangers their home. They croaked 
in the rigging, and came under the covering of 
the upper deck. One shrewd fellow tricked a 
dog out of his meal. He lighted on deck behind 
him, and, of course, canine left his bone to drive 
him away. Raven hopped back a few yards at a 
time and thus enticed the dog some distance away, 
when he flew back, and gobbled down his dinner 
before he could return. This became a staple 
trick of the ravens until the dogs began to " see 
through it." 

So bold did the wolves become that the men 
told the story of the sportsmen pulling at one end 
of the slain deer and the wolves at the other ! 

In April, 1852, M'Clure made a sledge-journey 
to Winter Harbor, on Melville Island, the winter- 
quarters of Parry in his famous voyage when this 
region was first made known to the world. 
M'Clure here found a cairn, under which Lieuten- 
ant M'Clintock had deposited a notice of his visit 
the previous summer when on a sledge-journey 
from Austin's steam squadron, which we have 
noticed. M'Clure left under the same cairn an 
account of his visit and present whereabouts. 

On returning to the ship they were glad to 
learn that large additions had been made by the 
hunters to their stock of provisions. But the 



The North-west Passage Discovered. 2JJ 

spring and summer brought no relaxing of the 
grip of the Ice King. A third winter in the Bay 
of Mercy became a sure experience, and the final 
abandonment of the " Investigator " quite proba- 
ble. Under these circumstances M'Clure assem- 
bled his men and made known his plans. They 
were these : Two parties were to go home in the 
spring; one by the way of the Mackenzie River, 
another by the way of Beechey Island, where, as 
the record left by M'Clintock on Melville Island 
assured them, provisions and a boat to take them 
to the Danish settlements of Greenland would be 
found. As for M'Clure himself he proposed to 
stay by the ship, with thirty of the strongest men, 
and remain a fourth winter. He would then re- 
treat on Lancaster Sound if help did not come 
sooner. All cheerfully agreed to these proposals. 

Spring came, and the preparations to carry for- 
ward this scheme of escape were matured, and the 
two parties were about to start. 

How fearfully perilous the route would prove to 
the mouth of the Mackenzie, up its portages, 
through its deep snow, around its impenetrable 
swamps, and over its many, many miles, before 
reaching the nearest station of the Hudson Bay 
Company, the reader, recollecting John Franklin's 
and Back's journeys, well understands. The party 
going east would face the enemies De Haven had 
just encountered. M'Clure 's fourth winter and 
final escape involved great risk and suffering. 
The three parties would be poorly equipped and 
provisioned 



278 Arctic Heroes. 

The commencement of this movement was de- 
layed on account of the death of a seaman, the 
first which had occurred in the expedition. On 
the day before his burial the captain and the first 
lieutenant were walking a short distance from the 
ship, pensively talking of the state of affairs and 
seeking an icy grave for their shipmate. What 
happened to them, and how all these plans were 
suddenly confounded as by an invisible hand, we 
must turn aside to explain. 



The Deserted Ships. 279 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE DESERTED SHIPS. 

IN the spring of 1852 England sent out the 
largest exploring fleet that had yet sailed. 
The names of the vessels will sound familiar to 
the reader. They were the " Assistance " and 
" Resolute," with their steamers, the " Pioneer " 
and "Intrepid," and the " North Star." The 
whole were under the command of Captain Edward 
Belcher. Captain Kellett had command of the 
" Resolute." The expedition sailed in April. In 
July it was pushing through the ice of Baffin 
Bay with a fleet of whalers. There was a lane of 
water into which the whalers and exploring fleet 
dropped, forming a long line, the American whaler, 
" M'Lellan," leading. The weather was fine, and 
all seemed going well. On the morning of the 
seventh word was passed from vessel to vessel 
that the "M'Lellan" had been caught in a nip 
and was sinking, her crew having already aban- 
doned her. Hearing this, the sailors of the ex- 
ploring fleet poured into her to take the sinking 
spoils. But Captain Belcher stopped that play, 
sent competent hands with powder, who blew up 
the ice which was crushing her, and set her free. 
But the next day she was nipped again, and this 
time the water poured into and soon sunk* her to 



280 Arctic Heroes. 

the water's edge. Belcher sent his men to save all 
that was possible out of her, and she was then 
blown up to get her out of the way of the other 
ships. 

In August the squadron reached its head- 
quarters at Beechey Island. The waters in every 
direction were remarkably free from ice. Captain 
Belcher with the " Assistance/' towed by the 
" Pioneer," stood up Wellington Channel. Captain 
Kellett in the " Resolute," at the heels of the " In- 
trepid," pushed forward in an open sea toward 
Melville Island. The " North Star " remained at 
Beechey Island as a stationary store-ship to which 
escaping boat parties might flee. 

We will follow Kellett's fortunes. 

There was on board the " Investigator," which 
we have just left under M'Clure at Mercy Bay, a 
young man by the name of Creswell. His father's 
anxiety for his safety led him to wait upon the au- 
thorities in England just as Belcher was sailing 
and tender his advice. He told them that if the 
" Investigator " was beset in the ice west of Mel- 
ville Island, as he thought she would be, then 
M'Clure would be sure to reach Melville Island 
by sledges and leave notice of his whereabouts. 
This was deemed good counsel, and now Kellett 
was following it under a full head of steam. We 
should have said that our old acquaintance, Lieu- 
tenant, now Captain M'Clintock, commanded the 
propeller " Intrepid," who, it will be remembered, 
had been at Melville Island with a sledge party 
the previous year, and examined Parry's records 



The Deserted Ships. 281 

of thirty years before, and left additional ones of 
his own. 

This energetic explorer soon, with the " Reso- 
lute " by the nose, after much thumping of the 
ice, put both vessels into the vicinity of Melville 
Island, and they went into winter-quarters at 
Dealy Island, on its south-eastern shore. 

Now came the sledge-party excursions in every 
direction. A fine resolute young officer by the 
name of Mecham commanded that which was to 
trace the south line of Melville Island. He had 
two sledges, named the Discovery and the Fear- 
less, a deposit of provisions which he was to carry 
forward for spring use and enough for twenty-five 
days' present use. Each sledge bore a little flag, 
given by home young ladies, with a sword arm on 
a white ground, and the motto, in Latin, " Over 
sea, land, and ice." Over frozen land, and through 
much ice and snow, the party sped. On their re- 
turn, about the middle of October, Mecham turned 
aside to Parry's " Sandstone," and the cairn under 
which Parry and M'Clintock had already left rec- 
ords, and to which he was commanded to add one 
of his own. On opening it, and unrolling the 
parchments, he found M'Clure's deposit of April, 
1852, about six months before! It contained 
M'Clure's voyaging and the discovery of the north- 
west passage, and his present position at Mercy 
Bay. It was the first news from his ship for two 
years, and such was the anxiety felt concerning 
him, that two vessels had been sent by way of 
Bering Strait to search for the searcher. Here 
18 



282 Arctic Heroes. 

was news of him not six months old ! Here was 
news, too, of his great discovery not yet known to 
the world ! Mecham built a new cairn, put into it 
his own record, and hurried off with his great news. 

Captain Kellett was, of course, intensely de- 
sirous to send a party forward immediately to 
search for the " Investigator." But Mercy Bay 
was a hundred and seventy miles off, and the ice 
would be too weak for sledging, and too strong 
for boating until the darkness would prevent 
either. So they spent the winter as best they 
could. In March, while yet the peril of sledging 
was great, a party started, consisting of eleven 
men, under the command of Lieutenant Pirn. 
This officer was in the " Herald," under Kellett, 
when she met M'Clure in the ice at Bering Strait. 
So he had been one of the last men who had said 
" good-bye " to the officers of the " Investigator." 

He had now started with two sledges, the larger 
with seven men under his immediate command, 
and the smaller with two men under Dr. Domville. 

Very slowly, and with great peril and toil, they 
made one hundred miles from the ship. Then 
the larger sledge, in slipping from a hummock, 
broke down. Here was a desperate state of the 
expedition ! Domville advised a return with the 
smaller sledge. But Pirn, after due deliberation, 
decided to take the dog-sledge and the two men, 
and push on, while Domville went into camp on 
the nearest land and waited his return, repairing 
in the mean time, if possible, the sledge. 

On sped Pirn with his dogs, which he fed with 



The Deserted Ships. 283 

preserved meat. One whole day he was sick and 
confined to the tent. They met with no game, yet 
onward they went. Weary days passed, and at 
last the Bay of Mercy was gained, but no " In- 
vestigator " could be seen. Straight across the 
bay went Pirn, hoping to find a cairn and records. 
At two o'clock the men saw something black in the 
distance. Pirn took his glass and looked. " Men, 
it's a ship. ! " he exclaimed, and all rushed forward. 
Pirn soon got ahead, and saw two men walking slow- 
ly toward him. Pirn ran and shouted and threw up 
his arms; as the wind and excitement prevented 
his words being heard, he was at first taken by the 
two men for one of their own party fleeing from a 
bear. As he came nearer, and they saw his face, 
black with the lanip smoke of his tent, and his 
violent gesticulation, they took him for an Esqui- 
mo, or a visitor from another world. Soon they 
heard, " I'm Lieutenant Pirn, late of the * Her- 
ald,' now in the ' Resolute.' Captain Kellett is 
in her at Dealy Island." 

Pirn was instantly in the presence of M'Clure 
and his lieutenant. Their hearts were too full for 
words, and the hardy navigators melted to tears. 
M'Clure says : " The announcement of relief be- 
ing close at hand when none was supposed to be 
within the arctic circle was too sudden, unex- 
pected, and joyous for our minds to comprehend it 
at once. The news flew with lightning rapidity ; 
the ship was all in commotion ; the sick, forgetful 
of their maladies, leaped from their hammocks ; 
the artificers dropped their tools, and the lower 



284 Arctic Heroes. 

deck was cleared of men, for they all rushed for 
the hatchway, to be assured that a stranger was 
actually among them, and that his tale was true. 
Despondency fled the ship, and Lieutenant Pirn 
received a welcome, pure, hearty, and grateful, 
that he surely will remember and cherish to the 
end of his days." 

Pirn and his men, accompanied by M'Clure, re- 
turned in a few days. They found Dr. Domville and 
his party in good condition, having mended the 
sledge and killed five musk-oxen. All arrived 
safely at the harbor of the " Resolute " and " In- 
trepid." 

For about two months communication was kept 
up between Dealy Island and Mercy Bay, and 
much consultation of the officers was held as to 
the course M'Clure should take. Captain Kellett 
at first favored M'Clure's plan of staying by the 
ship with a crew of the most hardy men. But a 
council of the surgeons pronounced the sanitary 
condition of the men as low and tending down- 
ward. Three arctic winters had made the robust 
puny. Only four among the healthy seamen 
came forward when asked to volunteer to stay, 
though the officers all voted to stand by the ship. 
In view of all these circumstances, it was decided 
to abandon the brave old " Investigator." Her 
boats, provisions, and equipments generally, were 
landed, and a well-guarded deposit was made of 
them for the use of Collinson, of the u Enter- 
prise," who was supposed to be pushing for these 
waters; or for Franklin himself, should he or any 



The Deserted Ships. 285 

of his expedition be alive and drifting toward 
Mercy Bay. On the third of June, 1853, the 
colors were thrown to the breeze, and officers and 
crew bade farewell to the " Investigator." 

It seemed an ignominious ending of her noble 
career to be left alone in the darkness, cold, and 
dreariness of this arctic region, to hear no sounds 
of life except those of the croaking raven, the 
howling wolf, and the barking fox. But we pre- 
sume her retiring men, glad to save their own 
lives by a wonderful deliverance, indulged in no 
sickly sentiment over the vessel. 

In a few weeks the sixty men of the " Investi- 
gator " were comfortably settled on board the 
" Resolute " and " Intrepid," in the midst of 
abundance and good companionship. Lieutenant 
Creswell, whose father had prompted the plan 
which had saved the expedition in which he sailed, 
was sent to Beechey Island with dispatches for the 
home authorities. When he arrived at the island 
the " Phoenix " had just arrived with supplies for 
Belcher, having left home in the spring. In her 
he sailed to England, where he arrived in Octo- 
ber, and was cordially greeted. He had not only 
seen the north-west passage but had gone through it. 

Kellett, having by sledge parties searched in 
vain, far and near, for traces of Franklin, made 
arrangements to take his ships to Beechey Island. 
It was now midsummer, and the ice might break 
up at any time. He built a storehouse on the 
island, and having filled it with provisions left in 
it this record ;— 



286 Arctic Heroes. 

" This is a house which I have named the Sail- 
or's Home, under the especial patronage of my 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Here 
royal sailors and mariners are fed, clothed, and 
receive double pay for inhabiting it." 

The ice did not let the vessels go until the mid- 
dle of August. They sailed twenty-four hours 
and then it held them fast again. The days of 
summer wore away and winter approached, and 
still no open sea, nor even leads through which 
they might bore, appeared. Game was plenty, 
musk-oxen especially ; of this highly fragrant beef 
they obtained and froze ten thousand pounds. 
In September a gale piled the ice-pack about 
them, made an island of their ice encasement, and 
set them drifting whither they would not. Hav- 
ing toyed with them two whole months, they were 
let alone for the winter in a good position due 
east from Winter Harbor, and in longitude ioi° 
west. Here, in tolerable comfort, the spring of 
1854 found them, one only having died. 

In the early part of the spring M'Clure went 
with his men, on sledges, to Beechey Island and 
took possession of the store-ship. Soon after an 
order came from Belcher commanding Kellett to 
abandon his ships and come to Beechey Island. 
Kellett remonstrated, saying that his position was 
a good one for an early escape ; that he had a 
plenty of supplies; that the expedition was in 
good health, and that parties concerned in desert- 
ing ships under such circumstances u would de- 
serve to have the jackets taken off their backs,'* 



The Deserted Ships. 287 

Belcher seems to have considered this strong talk 
for a subordinate, and he sent a peremptory order 
to abandon the ships. Two of Kellett's sledge 
parties were out on distant surveys. Leaving 
orders for their guidance, he prepared his vessels 
for abandonment. The engines of the " Intrepid " 
were so left that the ship could be got under 
steam in two hours. Both vessels were well pro- 
visioned, and made ready, in every respect, for 
occupation. He then calked down the hatches, 
all hands took their last look of the " Resolute " 
and " Intrepid," and started on their sledge jour- 
ney. They arrived at Beechey Island safely, 
utterly surprising M'Clure and his men. 

During all of the time in which we have been 
following the expedition of Kellett, Captain Belcher 
was surveying Wellington Channel and its adjacent 
waters. He had wintered in the ice, and extended 
his search, fall and spring, by sledge parties. In 
August of this year, 1854, his ships, the " Assist- 
ance " and " Pioneer," were liberated. He imme- 
diately pushed for Beechey Island. Waters about 
this island were at the same time navigable, and 
the leads extended fifteen miles up the channel. 
There was a belt of ice only twenty miles wide 
between his ships and this open highway home- 
ward, and this belt was much cracked. Yet Cap- 
tain Belcher was intent on hurrying home, with 
seeming impatience of all arctic restraints. He 
abandoned his ships on the twenty-sixth of Au- 
gust, and all hands made their way to Beechey 
Island. The sledge parties came in, one after 



288 Arctic Heroes. 

another. The spirited Mecham had extended his 
survey across the track of the " Enterprise," com- 
manded by Captain Collinson, the consort, it will 
be recollected, of the " Investigator." He was, 
in 1852, not far in the rear of M'Clure. 

The sledges being all in, the officers and crews 
of the five ships, the " Investigator," " Resolute," 
"Intrepid," " Assistance," and " Pioneer," were 
put on board the " North Star," and the sails were 
spread for home. Just then the " Phoenix," re- 
turned from her home trip with Lieutenant Cres- 
well, accompanied by the " Talbot," both under 
Captain Inglefield, hove in sight, rounding Cape 
Riley. The men were then distributed in the 
three ships. On the twenty-eighth of September 
they landed safely in England. 

A breeze, of course, was raised by Belcher's 
extraordinary feat of leaving four of his five ships 
behind him. He was court-martialed, acquitted, 
and knighted. M'Clure received the knighting 
without the court-martialing, and upon him and 
his officers and men were bestowed the fifty thou- 
sand dollars offered by the Government for the 
discovery of the north-west passage. M'Clure 's 
superior officer, Collinson, brought his ship, the 
" Enterprise," back through the waters he had 
entered. Nothing had been added to the hints 
which had been found by Austin at Beechey Isl- 
and, in the early searching, to the knowledge of 
Franklin's fate. The well-guarded dominions of 
ice and cold still held their sad secret. 

Some of our readers will recollect the remarka- 



The Deserted Ships. 289 

ble later history of the veteran " Resolute," one 
of these abandoned ships. We can but glance at 
it. In 1855 Captain Buddington, of New Lon- 
don, Conn., in the whale-ship "George Henry," 
found the " Resolute," imbedded in an ice-raft, 
drifting through Baffin Bay. She had already 
made twelve hundred miles of her homeward trip. 
There was some ice in her hold ; mold and damp 
had damaged some things, but otherwise she was 
essentially as Kellett had left her. Good fires in 
her stoves removed the dampness and melted the 
ice, and her fine force-pumps removed the water. 
Her rigging was repaired, and some new sails set. 
In a few days she freed herself from the ice, and 
Captain Buddington, with ten picked men from the 
" George Henry," arrived safely with her in New 
London the twenty-fourth of December after a 
rough passage of over two months. The En- 
glish authorities relinquished all claims upon her. 
Congress then purchased her of the owners of 
the " George Henry," and she was put into the 
naval dock at Brooklyn and thoroughly repaired. 
Every article left in her by Kellett was restored. 
She was then manned by a naval crew and put in 
command of Captain Hartstein, and, " with sails 
all set and streamers all afloat," she bore away for 
her English home. When she reached British 
^waters she was honored as a veteran covered with 
scars returning from many victorious battle-fields. 
The highest naval officers hastened on board of 
her. The queen herself paid her a visit. Com- 
plimentary ensigns fluttered from every flag-staff. 



290 Arctic Heroes. 

Cannon thundered their noisy welcome in every 
direction. The pulse of the whole nation beat 
with joy. The queen sent a distinguished artist 
to put the " reception " on canvas for the royal 
gallery. 

The American officers who brought her home 
were made the nation's guest, with such hospitality 
as few if any strangers ever received. The sea- 
men under them had substantial remembrance 
from the queen's private purse. Old England 
and the younger England of America met for 
once with hearty congratulations. 

The " Resolute " herself retired on her laurels, 
it is presumed, henceforth, if not knighted and 
pensioned, yet exempt from further labor and 
peril. 



Sir John Franklin's Fate. 291 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 

SHORTLY after the return of Belcher and 
M'Clure a new sensation was given to the 
interest attending the fate of Sir John Franklin. 

Dr. Rae, a veteran explorer in the employment 
oft he Hudson Bay Company, published a letter in 
the Montreal "Herald" of October 21, 1854, di- 
rected to the governor of that company. Its sub- 
stance was as follows : — 

In the spring of 1853 the doctor started down the 
Back, or Great Fish River, On reaching its mouth 
he went east and north, being directed to extend 
the survey of the western shore of Boothia, a region 
toward which we have sailed with Parry when on 
his second voyage. Here he met with Esquimo 
who seemed intelligent above the average of their 
countrymen. In the possession of these natives 
were various articles at once recognized as be- 
longing to the lost explorers ! Here there was a 
clew to the secret which had caused many hearts 
to ache, to reveal which two great nations had 
long been devoting large treasures, and the^serv- 
4 ices of their best men. Rae, of course, bent all 
his energies to the following up of the clew thus 
given.. Falling in with Esquimo hunters from 
time to time, he ascertained that nearly all of 



292 Arctic Heroes. 

them had heard of the party of white men from 
whom these articles had been obtained. The 
amount of the information obtained by comparing 
these statements was in substance this : — 

In the spring, four winters ago, (1850,)" several 
Esquimo families were hunting seal on the north 
shore of a large island. The island was many 
days' journey to the west and beyond a great river. 
Dr. Rae at once understood this to be what was 
known as King William's Land. While these Es- 
quimo were thus employed they saw forty white 
men traveling to the south over the ice, along the 
west shore of the island. They were dragging a 
boat and sledges. They looked very thin, were 
getting short of provisions, and were going south 
where they could shoot deer. They could not 
talk in the Esquimo language, but they contrived 
to purchase some seals of the natives, and to make 
known the fact that their ship or ships had been 
crushed by the ice. Later in the season, but be- 
fore the breaking up of the ice, the dead bodies 
of thirty persons and some graves were seen on 
the main land, and other bodies on an island near 
it. These bodies were a day's journey from the 
mouth of a great river, (Great Fish River,) and to 
the north-west of it. Some of the bodies were in 
a tent or tents. Some were under a boat which 
had been turned up to shelter them. One of the 
men had a telescope strapped over his shoulder, 
and his double-barreled gun lay underneath him. 
It was no doubt that of an officer. Sad evidence 
was given from the mutilated state of some of the 



Sir yohn Franklin s Fate. 293 

bodies, and the contents of the kettles, that the" 
wretched survivors had been driven to the des- 
perate resort of feeding upon the flesh of their 
fellow-comrades. Some had survived until the 
"sea-fowl began to return, maybe till the end of 
May, for shots were heard, and feathers and fresh 
bones of birds were found near some of the 
bodies. 

Rae purchased as many mementos of the sad 
facts" as he could bring away; they were at the 
same time assurances of the truth of the tales 
which had been told him. Among these were 
parts of watches, telescopes, compasses, and guns, 
all of which had evidently been broken up by the 
ignorant natives. Silver spoons, silver table-forks, 
and other table plate were obtained. Some of 
these were engraved with Franklin's name ; others 
with the names of his officers. In some cases the 
names of the ships, " Erebus " or " Terror," were 
added. 

Dr. Rae immediately hastened to England. 
The fate of Sir John Franklin and his entire ex- 
pedition was regarded as decided, and Dr. Rae 
and his men received the offered reward of fifty 
thousand dollars as the first discoverers of the 
sad fact. 

The English Government considered it morally 
impossible that any one of the expedition should 
be alive, and declined to peril the lives of other 
brave men by encouraging further search. But 
Lady Franklin devoted all her available remain- 
ing fortune for one more search to be directed to 



294 Arctic Heroes. 

the very region named by the Esquimo, Others 
came forward to aid in the expense. A steam- 
propeller yacht of one hundred and seventy tons 
was purchased, named the " Fox " — a small craft, 
indeed, to go unattended on such an errand. But 
love gave the vessel wings and courage. She was 
commanded by our good friend, Captain M'Clin- 
tock. The under officers and crew were picked 
men. Carl Petersen, whom we have met in Sir 
John Ross' last expedition, a tried man and apt 
interpreter of Esquimo talk, was secured from 
Denmark, his native land. The yacht was well 
stocked with provisions and scientific instruments. 

The " Fox," having reached the Greenland 
coast, touched at a Danish settlement, where ad- 
ditional coal, furs, and some other articles for an 
arctic wanter were obtained. Dogs and dog- 
sledges were also added to their outfit. An Es- 
quimo dog-driver, by the name of Christian, 
volunteered his services, was taken on board, was 
washed, cropped, and dressed in sailor clothes, 
after which he strutted about among the men with 
great satisfaction. There was a hand-organ on 
board, with which he was greatly delighted. He 
proved very useful in the management of the dogs, 
and in teaching that art to the officers. 

These dogs exhibited the characteristics of their 
race, sometimes to the amusement, but often to 
the sore vexation, of their managers. There was 
one of the pack named Harness Jack. Sledge- 
dogs are said to eat every thing except fox and 
raven, but Harness Jack gobbled down a raven 



Sir yohn Franklin 's Fate. 295 

with a gusto. He had a notion to wear his har- 
ness continually. If when he had been off in the 
sledge an attempt was made to take it off, he 
showed his teeth most decidedly. 

Jack was a favorite among the sailors and a 
tyrant among his kind. There came one day to 
another dog a whole family of little ones. Her 
kennel was an empty barrel laid on its side for that 
purpose. Harness Jack mounted the barrel, and 
though most uncomfortably situated, stood watch 
over the helpless brood night and day. But for 
him the mother would have been bereft of her 
children, for Esquimo dogs have the amiable pro- 
pensity of eating young puppies. It is not at all 
certain that if Jack had not been well fed for 
his disinterested service, he would not himself 
have indulged in the luxury of tender young dogs 
for breakfast. We hope we do not wrong him by 
the thought. 

On one occasion an officer attempted to kick 
Jack for his too great familiarity, and accidentally 
sent his seal-skin slipper from his foot after him. 
Jack picked up the slipper, scampered away to a 
hiding-place, and gulped it down his throat in a 
twinkling. 

The " Fox/' of course, tried the terrible passage 
of Melville Bay, to reach the western shore through 
the north water. The distance across this bay is 
one hundred and seventy miles. They had made 
one hundred and twenty of it in the early part of 
September, 1857. A few days later a terrific gale 
came on and broke up the floe, From this time 



296 Arctic Heroes. 

our little craft was made a plaything by the winds 
and currents, they sending it whither they pleased, 
only being seldom pleased to carry it in the direc- 
tion its captain desired to go. It was the old 
game played with De Haven and others. The 
" Fox " did not get rid of the ice by which it was 
firmly held until late in April, 1858 ! During 
this unwilling voyaging it drifted out of Melville 
into Baffin Bay, and southward through Davis 
Strait, and out into the Atlantic Ocean, a distance 
of thirteen hundred and eighty-five miles ! 

The winter which was thus spent in the villain- 
ous pack was attended by many perils but no 
serious incident. The sailors contrived to get 
some merriment out of Guy Fawkes' day, and 
much healthful amusement, and as well as sub- 
stantial profit, out of seal and bear shooting. 

Nothing daunted by this worse than loss of one 
entire year, Captain M'Clintock turned about and 
tried again. This time he succeeded, and on the 
sixteenth of July was in Lancaster Sound. He 
steamed into Barrow Strait to the old station at 
Beechey Island. From this he continued west, 
and then south, into what may be found on the 
map as Peel Sound, between North Somerset and 
Prince of Wales' Island. Keeping near the coast, 
he attempted to push through this long, narrow, 
and continually narrowing sound as he went south, 
which opens into a broader water which washes 
the shores on which Dr. Rae's Esquimo had seen 
the wrecked white men. But twenty-five miles was 
all the southing the ice would allow him to make. 



Sir yohn Franklin 9 s Fate. 297 

Going back into Barrow Strait, the " Fox " 
steamed down Prince Regent Inlet on the east 
side of North Somerset. On the extreme south 
of this land is a strait, twenty miles long and one 
wide, called Bellot Strait. M'Clintock had been 
on this strait nine years before when with Captain 
James Ross, but it was yet but little known. 
Captain M'Clintock hoped with trembling to sail 
through it into the southern part of Peel Sound, 
and so get round the solid ice which had stopped 
him on the west side of North Somerset. He did 
push into it, and made half the passage through. 
He then fell into the grip of the pack and was 
drifted back entirely out of it. Again he went in, 
and again was driven out. Five times did the 
persevering " Fox " push its pugnacious nose into 
Bellot Strait, and the fifth time it pushed through ! 
They found a snug creek which they named Port 
Kennedy, and went into winter-quarters. 

Bellot Strait divides North Somerset from a 
broad land called Boothia Felix. South-east of 
Boothia and about one hundred and fifty miles 
from M'Clintock's present wintering-place is King 
William Island. This last was the island where 
Rae's Esquimo obtained their Sir John Franklin 
relics. Opposite the winter harbor, Port Kennedy, 
is the southern shore of Prince of Wales Island. 

No sooner were the winter comforts secured, 

than- the wide-awake M'Clintock began to prepare 

for sledging in the spring on a large scale. Three 

parties, with dog-sledges, each of four men, were 

to be sent out. The first, under the captain him- 
19 



298 Arctic Heroes. 

self, accompanied by Petersen the interpreter, was 
to examine the shores of King William Island, and 
push forward to the mouth of the Great Fish 
River. The second, under Lieutenant Hobson, 
was to survey the west coast of Boothia. The 
third, under officer Young, was to strike across the 
sound to Prince of Wales Island, and follow its 
shore along its southern, and a considerable dis- 
tance up its western, line. 

The winter passed away with its full share 
of arctic comforts and pleasures. The captain 
thought that the greatest addition to pleasures 
which could well be conceived would be a well- 
filled letter-bag! One sad event occurred. The 
engineer died suddenly of apoplexy. There was 
no one in the vessel competent to take his place. 

The sledge parties were off at the early day of 
March 3, 1859, while yet winter, and ice, and 
storms ruled the days. The captain soon fell in 
with the natives, many of whom had relics of the 
lost " Erebus " and "Terror." They had not 
seen either the ships or the wrecked men from 
whom they came, but the account they gave of 
both agreed perfectly with the stories told Dr. 
Rae. 

Having obtained this information, M'Clintock 
returned to the " Fox." The other parties had 
come in. These were only preparatory trips. 
The three great journeys commenced the second 
of April. 

M'Clintock and Hobson traveled together until 
they came over against Cape Felix, the north 



Sir yohn Franklin 's Fate. 299 

point of King William Island. The natives spoke 
of the ships being wrecked on the west side of 
this island, one sinking and the other drifting 
ashore, the latter being the source of the relics 
they possessed. The men, they said, went away 
toward the Great River, and the next year their 
bones were found scattered along the way. 

Hobson hastened on to the alleged locality of 
the wreck. The captain examined the east shore 
of this great island, and then went over to the 
mainland and made diligent search about the 
mouth of the Great Fish River. Returning, he 
led his party up the western shore of King Will- 
iam Island, along the very track which Franklin's 
retreating men must have passed. The sledges 
kept on the ice, and some of the party walked on 
the shore, carefully examining every trace. While 
Captain M'Clintock was walking on a gravel ridge, 
which the winds kept in a measure bare of snow, 
he came upon a human skeleton. It was partly 
exposed, with a few fragments of clothes lying 
near. The perfectly bleached skeleton was lying 
upon its face. The limbs and smaller bones were 
either dissevered, or gnawed away by small an- 
imals. A careful examination of the ground was 
made, and more pieces of clothing, a pocket-book, 
a clothes-brush, pocket-comb, a neck-handker- 
chief with a loose bow-knot, a blue jacket, and a 
pilot cloth great-coat with plain-covered buttons. 
All these articles, with the style of dress, showed 
that the deceased was a steward's or officer's serv- 
ant. He had taken the gravel ridge for easier 



300 Arctic Heroes. 

travel, fallen on his face and died. It reminded 
the captain of the remark of an old Esquimo 
woman who had seen the escaping party : " They 
fell down and died as they walked away/' 

Going on a little farther, M'Clintock found a 
cairn put up by Lieutenant Hobson. He had 
been as far south as this spot, and returned north 
only six days before. He had left a note for 
M'Clintock which gave important information. 
He had not found the wreck nor seen any natives, 
but he had found a record left by Franklin's party. 
This lifted in part the vail which had hid the 
secret of their fate for so many years. Hobson 
had found it at Point Victory, on the north-west 
coast of this island — King William Island. The 
record paper was a printed form supplied to all 
the arctic ships, and was soldered up in a thin tin 
cylinder. The writing was upon the margin and 
read as follows : — 

"Twenty-eighth of May, 1847.— H. M. ships 
' Erebus ' and ' Terror ' wintered in the ice in lat. 
70 5' N., long. 98 23' W. 

"Having wintered in 1845-6 at Beechey Island 
in lat. 74 43' 28" N., long. 91 39' 15" W., after hav- 
ing ascended Wellington Channel to lat. 77 and 
returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. 

" Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. 

" All well. 

" Party consisting of two officers and six men 
left the ships on Monday, .twenty-fourth of May, 
1847. " G. M. Gore, Lieutenant. 

" Charles F. Des Vceux, Mate"" 



Sir yohn Franklin 's Fate. 301 

Thus far Franklin's expedition was one of al- 
most unexampled success. From the time they 
were last seen, by the whaler, in Baffin Bay, July 
1843, they had made the passage of Lancaster 
Sound and Barrow Strait, had pushed up Welling- 
ton Channel a hundred and fifty miles to the 
highest latitude ever attained, returned through an 
unexplored channel west of Cornwallis Island, 
and wintered at Beechey Island. Then they had 
sailed south to their present position, and spent, 
in comfort and health, a second winter. They 
had sailed through five hundred miles of pre- 
viously unexplored waters. They were now within 
ninety miles of the known waters leading out 
through Bering Strait to the Atlantic and dear old 
England ! The north-west passage must have 
appeared to Franklin as almost certainly known 
to him, and to be easily demonstrated by a boat 
journey, if not by his ships themselves. But how 
soon was all changed ! The record we have 
just noticed, written by officer Gore in May, 1847, 
was taken out in April, 1848, and, by another hand, 
the following addition made on the margin : — 

"April 25, 1848. — H. M. ships * Terror ' and 
1 Erebus ' were deserted on the twenty-second of 
April, five leagues N. N. W. of this, having been 
beset since the twelfth of September, 1846. The 
officers and crews, one hundred and five souls, 
under the command of Captain F. R. M. Crozier, 
landed here in lat. 6g° 37' 42" N., and long. 98 
41' W. Sir John Franklin died on the eleventh of 
June, 1847 ; and the total loss by death in the 



302 Arctic Heroes. 

expedition has been to this date nine officers and 
fifteen men. 

(Signed) F. R. M. Crozier, 

Captain and Senior Officer. 
(Signed) James Fitzjames, 

Captain H. M. S. Erebus, 
and start (on) to-morrow, 26, for Back's Fish 
River." 

A small additional note on the margin states 
the fact that the document had been removed 
to its present place of deposit, four miles, from 
the place where " the late Commander Gore had 
put it." 

Gore himself then was dead, and only two 
weeks after he had written "All well," his noble 
commander, Franklin, ended his eminent life. 

Captain M'Clintock now made the best speed 
possible on the track of Hobson. After passing 
the extreme west point of King William Land, 
which they named Cape Crozier, they came upon 
a boat. This Hobson had seen, and left a note 
stating the fact. 

This boat, its contents and surroundings, con- 
stituted the saddest relic yet seen. Large quantities 
of damaged clothing was scattered about in it, 
but no record, pocket-book, memorandum, nor 
journal of any kind, was found ; no name, even, 
was found on any article of clothing. The boat 
was swept and examined in every crevice. 

The boat was of light but strong materia], and 
rested upon a stout-built sledge. It had been 



Sir "John Franklin 's Fate. 303 

evidently equipped in every particular for the 
desperate expedition up the Great Fish River. 

The most impressive relic of the boat was two 
"skeletons : one of a young man, the other that of 
a strongly made man of middle age. They were 
much broken, and the skulls were entirely missing. 
Wolves had evidently visited the boat. Near them 
were two double-barreled guns and five watches. 
A large quantity of silverware, with names of 
owners engraved on them, with a great variety of 
such valuables, were found. The Esquimo had 
not been here. 

No graves nor other skeletons were found in the 
vicinity. The boat's bow was directed toward the 
ships, back to which her men were evidently drag- 
ging her. This may account for only two skele- 
tons, and the small quantity of food found — a lit- 
tle tea, forty pounds of chocolate, and a small 
quantity of pemmican. The rest of them may have 
gone forward to the ships, sixty-five miles, intend- 
ing to return. 

M'Clintock, after the most complete search, 
which did not add any material item to his infor- 
mation, returned to his ship. The sledge excur- 
sions were all ended late in July. Young had 
made valuable discoveries, but had seen no traces 
of Franklin. Both Young and Hobson were much 
broken in health, and the commander was admon- 
ished if he would save his men and vessel he 
must improve the earliest opportunity of getting 
away. On the third of August they moved a few 
miles; on the tenth they got up steam, the cap- 



304 Arctic Heroes. 

tain, by the aid of the firemen, contriving to man- 
age the engine, and made good headway ; on the 
twenty-eighth they were at a Danish port in Green- 
land, and on the twenty-first of September Cap- 
tain M'Clintock was in London. 

Honor and reward awaited the officers and crew 
of the brave little " Fox." The relics were de- 
posited in the United Service Institution. The 
fate of Franklin and his men was discovered. If 
money, bravery, and good-will could have saved 
them, our last chapter would have read, Franklin 
saved ! 



THE END. 



PUBLISHED BY NELSON & PHILLIPS, 

80S BROADWAY, N- Y. 



William the Taciturn. 

Translated by J. P. Lacroix. From the French 

of L. Abelous. Two Illustrations $1 25 

Thomas Chalmers. 

A Biographical Study. By James Dodd. Large 

16mo 1 50 

Word of God Opened. 

By B. K. Peirce. Large 16mo. _ 1 25 

Christian Maiden. 

Memorials of Eliza Hessel. With a Portrait. By 
Joshua Priestley I 25 

Stories and Pictures from Church History. 

For Young People. Illustrated. Large 16mo. . 1 25 

Agnes Morton's Trials 

And the Young Governess. By Mrs. E. N. 
Janvier. Large 16mo 1 28 

Life of Oliver Cromwell. 

By Charles Adams, D.D. 16mo, ........... 1 2£ 

Mann and its Wonders. 

By Charles Adams, D.D. 16mo . . „ 1 25 

Edith Vernon's Life - Work. 

Large 16mo. Illustrated 1 25 

Exiles in Babylon. 

By A. L. O. E. Illustrated 1 25 



2 CHOICE BOOKS FOR >OUTH. 

Lindsay Lee and his Friends. 

A Story for the Time. Large 16mo $0 75 

Gustavus Adolfihus, 

The Hero of the Reformation. From the French 
of L Abelous. By Mrs. C. A. Lacroix. Illus- 
trated. Large 16mo \ (Xf 

Heroine of the White Nile; 

Or, What a Woman Did and Dared. A Sketch 
of the Remarkable Travels and Experiences of 
Miss Alexandrine Tinne. By Prof. William 
Wells. Illustrated. Large 16mo I 00 

Memoir of Washington Irving. 

With Selections from his Works, and Criticisms. 

By Charles Adams, D.D. Large 16mo 1 's5 

Itinerant Side ; • 

Or, Pictures of Life in the Itinerancy. With 
Engravings 1 00 

Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson. 

By C. Adams, D.D. Large 16mo 1 50 

Lady Huntingdon Portrayed. 

Including Brief Sketches of some of her Friends 
and Colaborers. By the Author of " The Mission- 
ary Teacher," "Sketches of Mission Life, n etc. \ 25 

Ministering Children. 

A Story showing how even a Child may be as a 
Ministering Angel of Love to the Poor and Sor- 
rowful. Illustrated 1 50 

Lives made Sublime by Faith and Works. 

Large 16mo. Illustrated P 1 25 

My Sister Margaret. 

A Temperance Story. Four Illustrations. By 

Mrs. C. M. Edwards 135 

Palissy the Potter; 

Or, the Huguenot, Artist, and Martyr. A True 
Narrative. By C. L. EniGHTWELL. Illustrated. t 25 



CHOICE BOOKS FOR YOUTH. 3 

Footprints of Roger Williams. 

By Rev. Z. A. Mudge. Large 16mo , . , $1 25 

Path of Life. 

By D. Wise, D.D. Large 16rao 1 00 

Gilt Edge , . . 1 80 

The Ministry of Life. 

By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of 

41 Ministering Children," etc. With Illustrations 125 

Pleasant Pathways; 

Or, Persuasives to Early Piety. By Daniel 

Wise, D.D. Steel Engravings 1 25 

The Poet Preacher: 

A Brief Memorial of Charles Wesley, the Eminent 
Preacher and Poet. By Charles Adams. Illus- 
trated 1 00 

The Stony Road. 

A Scottish Story from Real Life. Large 16mo. . 85 

Pillars of Truth. 

A Series of Sermons on the Decalogue. By E„ 

O Haven, D.D 1 25 

The Rainlow Side. 

A Sequel to "The Itinerant." By Mrs. 0. M. 
Edwards. With Four Illustrations 1 25 

The Shepherd King; 

Or, a Sick Minister's Lectures on the Shepherd 
of Bethlehem, and the Blessing that followed 
Them. By A. L. O. E., Authoress of the " Young 
Filgrim," " The Roby Family," etc. Illustrated. J 2£ 

Trials of an Lnventor: 

Life and Discoveries of Charles Goodyear. Largo 

16mo 1 95 

Vitivs from Plymouth Rock. 

By Z. A. Mudge. With Six Illustrations. Large 
16mo.. 150 



4 CHOICE BOOKS FOR YOUTH. 

Words that Shook the World; 

Or, Martin Luther his own Biographer. Beinp 
Pictures of the Great Reformer, sketched mainly 
from his own Sayings. By Charles Adams. Il- 
lustrated $1 25 

Young Lady's Counselor. 

By D. Wise, D.D. Large 16mo 1 00 

Gilt Edge , 1 30 

Young Man's Counselor. 

By D. Wise, D.D, Large 16mo 1 00 

Gilt Edge 130 

Six Years in India. 

By Mr. Humphreys I 25 

Young Shetlander and his Home. 

Being a Biographical Sketch of Young Thomas 
Edmonston, the Naturalist, and an Interesting 
Account of the Shetland Islands. By B. &. 
Peirce, D.D. Illustrated. Large 16mo 1 35 

Children of Lake Huron; 

Or, the Cousins at Cloverley. 16mo . . 1 25 

Dora Hamilton ; 

Or, Sunshine and Shadow. Six Illustrations. 

16mo : 90 

Discipline of Alice Lee. 

A Truthful Temperance Story. Illustrated. 

16mo 1 00 

Suzanna De VOrme. 

A Story of Huguenot Times. Large 16mo. . 1 25 

The Christian Statesman. 

A Portraiture of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. By 

Z. A. Mudge ,..,.. I 25 

The Forest Boy. 

A Sketch of the Life of Abraham Lincoln. By 

S. A. Mttdge. Large 16mo 1 25 



PUBLIC A TIOJSTS OF NELSON &* PHILLIPS, 
805 BROADWAY, NEW YOEK. 

The Story of a Pocket Bible. 

Ten illustrations. i2mo * $1 25 

Historical Souvenirs of Martin Luther. 

By Charles W. Hubner. Illustrated. i2mo i oo 

Words that Shook the World ; 

Or, Martin Luther his own Biographer. By Charles 
Adams, D.D. Twenty-two Illustrations. i2mo.. I 25 

Renata of Este. 

From the German of Rev. Carl Strack. By Cath- 
erine E. Hurst. i6mo... I 25 

Anecdotes of the Wesleys. 

By J. B. Wakeley, D.D. i2mo I 25 

Martyrs to the Tract Cause. 

A contribution to the History of the Reformation. 

By J. F. Hurst, D.D. i2mo 75 

Palissy, the Huguenot Potter. 

By C. L. Brightwell. Illustrated. i6mo 1 25 

Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

A Portraiture of Rev. George Whitefield, M.A. By 

J. B. Wakeley, D.D. i2mo I 25 

Thomas Chalmers. 

A Biographical Study. By James Dodds. i2mo. 1 00 

Gustavus Adolphus. 

The Hero of the Reformation. From the French 
of L. Abelous. By Mrs. C. A. Lacroix. Illustrated. 
i2mo I 00 

William the Taciturn. 

From the French of L. Abelous. By Professor J. 

P. Lacroix. Illustrated. i6mo 1 25 

Life of Oliver Cromwell. 

By Charles Adams, D.D. i6mo I 25 

Lady Huntington Portrayed. 

By Rev Z. A. Mudge. i2mo I 25 

Curiosities of Animal Life. 

Recent Discoveries of the Microscope. i2mo. ... o 75 



Publications of JTelson 8j J>hillips, 

805 Broadway, New York. 

Afternoons with Grandma. 

From the French of Madame Carraud. By Mrs. Mary 
Kinmont. Beautifully Illustrated. Bound in Muslin. 
16mo $1 25 

Household Stories. 

From the German of Madame Ottilie Wildermuth. 
By Miss Eleanor Kinmont. With Illustrations. 16mo* 
Four Volumes. Each 1 25 

Father's Coming Home. 

By the Author of "Weldon "Woods." Four Illustra- 
tions. 16mo , 1 00 

Agnes Morton's Trial ; 

Or, the Lost Diamonds. And The Young Governess. 

By Mrs. Emma N. Janvier. l2mo 1 25 

My Sister Margaret. 

A Temperance Story. By Mrs. C. M. Edwards. Illus- 
trated. 12mo 1 25 

Lilian. 

A Story of the Days of Martyrdom in England Three 
, Hundred Years Ago. Five Illustrations. 16mo...... 90 

Ethel Linton; 

Or, The Feversham Temper. By E. A. W., Author of 

" The Home of the Davenports," etc. 12mo 1 25 * 

Simple Stories -with Odd Pictures; 

Or, Evening Amusements for the Little Ones at Home. 
With Twenty Illustrations by Paul Konewka. 16mo. 75 

Young Life; 

Or, The Boys and Girls of Pleasant Valley. By Mrs. 
Sarah A. Mather, Author of "Itinerant Side," etc. 
12mo 1 25 

Fraulein Mina; 

Or, Life in an American German Family. By Miss 
Mary H. Norris. 12mo 1 25 

Through Trials to Triumph. 

A Story of Boy's School-life. By Miss H. A. Putnam. 
Illustrated. 12mo , , 1 25 



Publications op JTelson 8f J^hillips, 

30S Broadway, New York. 

Glaucia. 

A Story of Athens in the First Century. By Emma 
Leslie. Illustrated. l2mo $1 25 

Talks with Girls. 

By Augusta Larned. 12mo 1 50 

Peter, the Apprentice. 

An Historical Tale of the Eeformation in England. By 
the author of "Faithful, but not Famous," etc. 16mo. 90 

Romance without Fiction. 

Or, Sketches from the Portfolio of an Old Missionary. 

By Rev. Henry Bleby. 12mo 1 75 

The Man of One Book; 

Or, the Life of the Eev. William Marsh, D.D. By his 
Daughter. Edited by Daniel Wise. 12mo 1 50 

Sunday Afternoons. 

A Book for Little People. By E. F. Burr, D.D., author 

of " Ecce-Celum." 16mo 75 

Little Princess, 

And other Stories, chiefly about Christmas. By Aunt 
Hattie. 18mo . 65 

School-Life of Ben and Bentie. 

Illustrated. 18mo 90 

Peeps at our Sunday- Schools. 

By Rev. Alfred Taylor. 12mo 1 25 

Elizabeth Tudor: 

The Queen and the Woman. By Virginia F. Town- 
send. Illustrated. 12mo 1 50 

True Stories of the American Fathers. 

For the Girls and Boys all over the Land. By Mi*s 
Rebecca M'Conkey. Illustrated. 12mo 1 50 

Glimpses of our Lake Region in 1863, 

And other Papers. By Mrs. H. C. Gardner. 12mo... 1 50 

Through the Eye to the Heart j 

Or, Eye-Teaching in the Sunday-School. By Rev. W. 

F. Crafts. 12mo 1 50 

Discontent, 

And other Stories. By Mrs. H. C. Gardner. 12mo. . . 1 25 



PUBLICATIONS OF NELSON & PHILLIPS, 
805 Broadway, New York. 

HOME STOEY SEEIES .-Ho. 1. 

Three Volumes. i6mo. $4. 
Country Stories. | Holiday Stories. 

Stories for Leisure Hours. 

LITTLE DOOB-EEEPEB LEBBABY. 

Five Volumes. 16mo. $6. 

Little Door-keeper. | Joe "Witless. 

Captain Christie's Granddaughter. | False Shame. 

Miracles of Heavenly Love in Daily Live. 

GLEN ELDER BOOKS. 

Five Volumes. 16mo. $6. 
The Orphan of Glen Elder. I The Lyceum Boys* 

Francis Leslie. Eosa Lindesay. 

The Harleys of Chelsea Place. 

ELLEESLIE HOUSE LIBEAEY. 

Four Volumes. 16mo. $4 75. 
Ellerslie House. Alice Thorne. 

Kate and her Cousins. "Wreck of the Osprey. 

LYNTONVILLE LIBEABT. 

Four Volumes. 16mo. $4 50. 

Life in Lyntonville. Miss Carrol's School. 

Fishers of Derby Haven. Grace's Visit. 

POPULAR LIBBAET OF HISTORY I0B YOUNG 
PEOPLE 

Four Volumes. 16mo. Illustrated. $4 50. 
Stories of Old England. J History of the Crusades 

Count Ulrich of Lyndburg. The Hero of Brittany. 

KATIE JOHNSTONE LIBEAEY. 

Five Volumes. 16mo. $5 50. 

Katie Johnstone's Cross. One of the Billingses. 

The Grocer's Boy. Emily Milman. 

Cottagers of Glencarran. 

LOVING-HEABT AND HELPHTG-HAND LIBEAEY. 

Five Volumes. 16mo. $5 50. 

Nettie and her Friends. An Orphan's Story. 

Philip Moore, the Sculptor. Story of a Moss-Rose. 

Carrie AHlliams and her Scholars. 



r?i2 ^ 







' "%<£ 



<a- r 



^ % 







- A^ <X 













* ,**■ 






s / 



,A N c ° " <J * "O. 






\^ -v. 









,0 
<& ' ^ r 












V 



/"v 



♦/*b 









/% 




'A 



A 









A ' * ' "> V' * 






^ 









o 









^* 










'/ 






A' 



^ c> 



A X 



V </ 






























LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 708 241 3 



■ 



H 



i \m 



■ 
■ 



M 






■ 



a ■ 









